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THE WAx 

A SLAVE UNION OR A Fkv 

SPEECH 

OF 

Hon. MARTIN F. CONWAY, 

Delivered in the House of Representatives, 

AND 

REVISED BY THE AUTHOR, 

PUBLISHED IN THE 

PULPIT AND ROSTRUM, No. 28. 

This is one of the ablest, the most original, and the most 
comprehensive speeches yet made in Congress on the present 
crisis of our National affairs. The reader cannot fail of being 
deeply interested in its perusal. We append two or three brief 
notices, taken from hundreds. 

" It is the only speech made in Congress this session that fully, properly grapples with 
the great question of the day, or comprehends the issues at stake, Or deals with the Rebellion iu 
a statesmanlike manner." — Chicago Tribune. 

''It is one of the most plain-spoken utterances of the time, full of original views and 
bold suggestions." — New York Iribune. 

"I have read it with profound interest, and almost with surprise ; it is the speech of a 
living and thinking man, of a statesman and a philosopher. It is far above the range of ordinary 
politicians, and has seldom, for depth of thought, largeness and justness of view, been equaled 
by any speech I have seen from any member of either House of Congress." — Dr. O. J . Browmon. 

— 

The Pulpit and Rostrum Nos. 26, 27 and 28, are as follows : 

No. 2R.--THE ABOLITIONISTS, AND THEIR RELATIONS TO THE 
WAR. A Lecture by William Lloyd Garrison, delivered at the Cooper Insti- 
tute, New York, January 14th, 18G2. 

No. 27 .—THE WAR NOT FOR EMANCIPATION OR CONFISCATION, a 
Speech by Hon. Gakrett Davis of Kentucky, delivered in the tT. S. Senate. 
January 23d, 1862. Also. AFRICAN SLAVERY, THE CORNER-STONE OF 
THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY, a Speech by Hon. Alexander H. Stevens, 
Vice-President of theConfederacy. 

No. 28.— THE WAR : A SLAVE UNION OR A FREE ? Speech of Hon. 
Martin F. Conway, delivered in the House of Representatives, December 12th. 
1861. 

The Pulpit and Rostrum gives full Phonographic Reports (revised by the 
Authors) of the Speeches and Discourses of our most eminent public speakers. 
It thus constitutes a series most valuable for perusal or reference. 

Price 10 cents a number, or $1 a year (for 12 numbers). 

E. D. BARKER, Publisher, 

135 GRAND ST., NEW YCP V 



ery Library— The only Journal devoted 
„o the History of America. 

THE 

xiSTORICAL MAGAZINE, 



NOTES AND QUERIES 

OONOERNING THE 

ANTIQUITIES, HISTORY, AND BIOGRAPHY OF AMERICA. 



This Magazine was commenced in January, 1857, for the purpose of furnishing 
a medium of intercommunication between Historical Societies, Authors, and 
Students of History, and supplying an interesting and valuable journal — a mis- 
cellany of American History. With the first of January, 1862, it enters upon its 
sixth annual volume, with the support and aid of a large body of intelligent 
readers, and the assistance of the foremost historical writers in the country. 

The work is under the editorial care of a gentleman well known for his hearty 
devotion to the objects of this publication, and a distinguished member of the 
New York Historical Society. Among the contributors to the past numbers are— 

Hon. Edward Everett, Hon. Geo. Bancroft, Jared Sparks, LL.D., Hon. Peter Force, Hon. James 
Savage, W. H. Prescott, Esq., Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, Wm. Gilmore Simms, Esq., Henry R. 
Schoolcraft, Esq., Benson J. Lossiug, Esq., Hon. Henry G. Murphy, Samuel G. Drake, Esq., John 
G. Shea, Esq., Sebastian F. Streeter, Esq., Alfred B. Street, Esq., E. B. O'Callaghan, LL.D., Prof. 
W. W. Turner, Buckingham Smith, Esq., Evert A. Duyckinck, Esq., Bran tz Mayer, Esq., Hon. John 
R. Bartlett, Samuel F. Haven, Esq., Dr. R. W. Gibbs, John W. Francis, M. D. 

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facts, or the discussion of National and Local 
topics of interest — of the whole country — in 
Essays by writers versed in American History. 



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respondence, Diaries, &c., hitherto unpublished, 
of Americans of Eminence. 

HI. Biographical and Obituary Notices of 
Persons distinguished in the service of the 
country, whether in office, political life, litera- 
ture, or science. 



IV. Accurate Reports of tho Proceedings of 
the numerous American Historical, Antiquarian, 
Geographical, Numismatic and other kindred 
Societies. 

V. Notes and Queries of curious and import- 
ant topics, new and old, with Replies, by a 
large body of contributors. 

VI. Reprints of Rare aud interesting Tracts, 
Old I'oems out of print, &., &c. 

VII. Miscellany aud Anecdotes. 

Y1II. Brief Notes on new Historical Books. 
IX. Historical aud Literary Intelligence, New 
Announcements, &c. 



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3XV E 458 

S3 -2 



.4« Address by William Lloyd Garrison, delivered Tuesday Evening, January 
14, 1862, at the Cooper Institute, New York. Revised bythe Author. 

KErORTED BY ANDREW J. GRAHAM. 

Among those who occupied the platform were J. A. Kennedy, Superintendent of 
Police, Rev. Dr. Tyng, Eev. Mr. Sloan, and many other eminent citizens. A beau- 
tiful bouquet of flowers and an ivy wreath were placed beside the speaker's desk 
by Mrs. Paton, which incident was followed by a burst of applause. The speaker 
having entered, was introduced by Mr. Theodore Tilton, who said : 

" Ladies and Gentlemen — I put myself for a moment between you and him 
[pointing to, Mr. Garrison], because I have been asked, and honored in the asking, 
to give to a genuine Yankee a genuine Yankee welcome ; and I know not how to 
do it better than just to make the old-fashioned sign of the right hand, which is 
the Yankee token of good fellowship, and in your name to offer it to William 
Lloyd Garrison." [Applause.] 

Mr. Tilton thereupon extended his hand to Mr. Garrison, who forthwith advanced, 
and was cordially welcomed. Mr. Garrison spoke as follows: 

Ladies and Gentlemen : No public speaker, on rising to address 
an assembly, lias any rigbt to presume that, because at the outset 
he receives a courteous and even warm approval, therefore they 
are prepared to indorse all his views and utterances. Doubtless, 
there are some points, at least, about which we very widely differ; 
and yet, I must frankly confess, I know of no other reason for 
your kind approval this evening, than that I am an original, un- 
compromising, irrepressible, out-and-out, unmistakable, Garrisonian 
Abolitionist. [Enthusiastic applause.] By that designation I do 
not mean one whose brain is crazed, whose spirit is fanatical, 
whose purpose is wild and dangerous, but one whose patriotic 
creed is the Declaration of American Independence [loud cheers], 
whose moral line of measurement is the Golden Rule, whose gospel 
of humanity is the Sermon on the Mount, and whose language is 
that of Ireland's Liberator, O'Connell — " I care not what caste, 
creed, or color slavery may assume. Whether it be personal or 
political, mental or corporeal, intellectual or spiritual, I am for its 
instant, its total abolition. I am for justice, in the name of 
humanity, and according to the law of the living God." [Cheers.] 

Hence, what I wrote many years ago, I feel proud once more to 
affirm : 



T53 



THE ABOLITIONISTS, copy i 

AND THEIR RELATIONS TO THE WAR. 



32 THE ABOLITIONISTS, AND 

"I am an Abolitionist, 

I glory in the name, 
Though now by Slavery's minions hissed, 

And covered o'er with shame. 
It is a spell of light and power — 

The watchword of the free — 
"Who spurns it in the trial-hour, 

A craven soul is he." 

I know that to be an Abolitionist is not to be with the multitude 
— on the side of the majority — in a popular and respectable posi- 
tion ; and yet I think I have a right to ask of yon, and of all who 
are living on the soil of the Empire State, and of the people of the 
North at large, why it is that you and they shrink from the name 
of Abolitionist? Why is it that, while you profess to be opposed 
to slavery, you nevertheless desire the whole world to understand 
that you are not radical Abolitionists? "What is the meaning of 
this? Why are you not all Abolitionists? Your principles are 
mine. What you have taught me, I adopt. What you have taken 
a solemn oath to support, as essential to a free Government, I 
recognize as right and just. The people of this State profess to 
believe in the Declaration of Independence. That is my Aboli- 
tionism. Every man, therefore, who disclaims Abolitionism, 
repudiates the Declaration of Independence. Does he not? "All 
men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with an 
inalienable right to liberty." Gentlemen, that is my fanaticism — 
that is all my fanaticism. [Cheers.] All I ask is, that this decla- 
ration may be carried out everywhere in our country and through- 
out the world. It belongs to mankind. Your Constitution is an 
Abolition Constitution. Your laws are Abolition laws. Your 
institutions are Abolition institutions. Your free schools are Abo- 
lition schools. I believe in them all; and all that I ask is, that 
institutions so good, so free, so noble, may be everywhere propa- 
gated; everywhere accepted. And thus it is that I desire, not to 
curse the South, or any portion of her people, but to bless her 
abundantly, by abolishing her infamous and demoralizing slave 
institution, and erecting the temple of liberty on the ruins thereof. 

I believe in Democracy ; but it is the Democracy which recog- 
nizes man as man, the world over. [Cheers.] It is that Democ- 
racy which spurns the fetter and the yoke for itself, and for all 
wearing the human form. And therefore I say, that any man who 
pretends to be a Democrat, and yet defends the act of making 
man the property of his fellow-man, is a dissembler and a hypo- 
crite, and I unmask him before the universe. [Loud cheers.] 

We profess to be Christians. Christianity — its object is to 



THEIR RELATIONS TO THE "WAR. 33 

redeem, not to enslave men ! Christ- is our Eedeemer. I believe 
in Him. He leads the anti-slavery cause, and always has led it. 
The Gospel is the Gospel of freedom ; and any man claiming to be 
a Christian, and to have within him the same mind that was in 
Christ Jesus, and yet dares to hold his fellow-man in bondage, as a 
mere piece of perishable property, is recreant to all the principles 
and obligations of Christianity. [Applause.] 

"Why is it, men of the Empire State, that there are no slaves 
here? Four millions of people, and not a single slave among them 
all ! On what ground was slavery abolished in the State of New 
York? On the mere ground of policy or expediency, or because 
it was an immorality, a crime, an outrage, and therefore not to be 
tolerated by a civilized and Christian people? Hence I affirm that 
the people of this State are committed to radical, " ultra" Aboli- 
tionism. And so I have a right to expect everywhere a friendly 
hearing and a warm co-operation on the part of the people when 
I denounce slavery, and endeavor to bring it to the dust, and to 
take the chains from those who are laboring under the lash of the 
slave-driver. You have abolished slavery, because it can have no 
rightful existence here. You allow no man to decide whether he 
can humanely hold a slave. So of Massachusetts, so of New 
England, and so of the nineteen free States. Slavery is pronounced 
a curse by them all. Every man before the law is equal to every 
other man ; and no man may lay his hand too heavily upon the 
shoulder of his brother man, except at his peril. 

In the very generous notice of this lecture last Sunday, by 
Henry Ward Beecher, he said that he fully accorded with me in 
my principles, which strike at the foundation of slavery. All 
slavery is wrong, unjust, immoral, and unchristian, and ought to 
terminate, but he expressed some difference of opinion in regard 
to my methods for its abolition. I am confident that, upon further 
reflection and investigation, he will find my methods of Abolition 
are as unexceptionable as my principles. My method is simply 
this : when I see a slaveholder, I tell him he is bound by every 
consideration of justice and humanity to let the oppressed go free. 
That is God's method, and I think there can be no improvement 
upon it. And when I find an accomplice of the slaveholder sus- 
taining him in his iniquity, I bid him repent, aud demand that b« 
bring forth fruits meet for his repentance. That is my method. 

Now I say that if we are right in establishing our institutions 
upon the foundations of equal liberty, we have a right to endeavor 



34 THE ABOLITIONISTS, AND 

to propagate those institutions all over the country and throughout 
the world. We have a right to say to those in the slave States, 
" Your system of slavery is inherently wrong and dangerous. Re- 
gard your slaves as men, treat thera as such, establish free institu- 
tions, substitute for the lash a fair compensation, and you will be 
blest, wonderfully blest." Have I not a right to say this ? Is it 
not a natural, God-given, constitutional right? On the other hand, 
they have a perfect right at the South to endeavor to proselyte us 
in regard to their institutions; and I think they have done their 
best — that is, their worst — in that direction. 

I never have heard any complaint in regard to the unlimited 
freedom of speech on the part of Southern slaveholders and slave- 
traffickers. We are told by pro-slavery men here, that wo have no 
right to discuss this matter ! They point us to our national com- 
pact. They gravely tell us to remember that, at the organization of 
the Government, the slave States were in existence, and came into 
the Union on terms of equality, and, under the compact, we have 
no right to criticise or condemn them because of their holding 
slaves. Now, my reply to them is, in the first place, that no com- 
pact of men's device can biud me to silence when I see my fellow- 
man unjustly oppressed. [Applause.] I care not when or where the 
compact was made, or by whom it was approved. My right to de- 
nounce tyrants and tyranny is not derived from man, nor from con- 
stitutions or compacts. I find it in my own soul, written there by 
the finger of God, and man can never erase it. I am sure that, if 
it were your case ; if you were the victims of a compact that denied 
the right of any one to plead for your deliverance, though you were 
most grievously oppressed — though your children and wives were 
for sale in the market, along with cattle and swine — you would ex- 
claim, "Accursed be such a compact ! Let none be dumb in re- 
gard to our condition !" 

My reply again is, that the compact, bad as it is in its pro-slavery 
features, provides for the liberty of speech and of the press, and 
therefore I am justified in saying what I honestly think in regard 
to slavery and those who uphold it. The Southern slaveholders, I 
vepeat, have always exercised the largest liberty of speech. They 
have denounced free institutions to an unlimited extent. Is the 
right ail on one side ? May I not reciprocate, and say what I think 
of their slave institutions? Yes, I have the right, and, by the help 
of God, I mean to exercise it, come what may. [Great applause.] 

The times are changing. Yes, it is spoken of with exultation — 



THEIR RELATIONS TO THE WAR. 35 

and well it may be as a cheering sign of progress — that even Dr. 
Brownson has been able to speak against slavery in the city of 
Washington, -without being in peril of his life ; that even Horace 
Greeley and George B. Cheever have been permitted to stand up 
in tho capital of their country, and utter brave words for freedom ; 
and nobody mobbed them ! [Applause.] And I am told it is ex- 
pected that my eloquent friend, and the friend of all mankind, Wen- 
dell Phillips [cheers], will also soon make his appearance at Wash- 
ington, to be heard on the same subject, without running any great 
personal risk. This is something to boast of! And yet I must 
confess, that I feel humiliated when I remember that all this is 
rendered possible, under our boasted Constitution, only because 
there is a Northern army of 150,000 soldiers in and around the 
capital ! [Applause.] Take that army away — restore the old state 
of things — and it would not be possible for such speeches to be 
made there ; but while we have General McClellan and 150,000 
Northern bayonets in that seotion, a Northern man may say aloud 
at Washington, " Let the Declaration of Independence be applied to 
all the oppressed in the land," aud his life is not specially endan- 
gered in so doing! [Cries of " Hear, hear!"] If that is all we 
have to boast of now, what has been our condition hitherto ? 

Now, I maintain that no institution has a right to claim exemp- 
tion from the closest scrutiny. All our Northern institutions are 
open for inspection. Every man may say of them what he pleases. 
If he does not like them, he can denounce them. If he thinks he 
can suggest better ones, he is entitled to do so. Nobody thinks of 
mobbing him, nobody thinks of throwing rotten eggs and brickbats 
at his head. Liberty ! why, she is always fearless, honest, open- 
hearted. She says, as one did of old, " Search me and try me, and 
see if there be anything evil in me." But, on the other hand, we 
are not permitted to examine Southern institutions. Oh, no ! And 
what is the reason ? Simply because they will not bear examina- 
tion ! Of course, if the slaveholder felt assured that they could, 
he would say, " Examine them freely as you will, I will assist you 
in every way in my power." Ah ! " 'tis conscience that makes 
cowards of them all!" They dread the light, and with the tyrant 
of old they cry, " Put out the light — aud then put out the light!" 
That is their testimony in regard to the rectitude of their slave 
institutions. 

The slaveholders desire to be let alone. Jefferson Davis and his 
crew cry out, " Let us alone!" The Slave Oligarchy have always 



3() THE ABOLITIONISTS, AND 

cried out, " Let us alone I" It is an old cry — 1,800 years old at 
least — it was the cry of those demons who had takeu possession of 
their victims, and who said to Jesus, " Let us alone ! Why hast 
thou come to torment us hefore the time?" [Laughter and ap- 
plause.] Now, Jesus did not at all mistake the time ; he was precisely 
in time, and therefore he bore his testimony like the prince of eman- 
cipators, and the foul demons were cast out, but not without rend- 
ing the body. The slaves of our country, outraged, lacerated, and 
chained, cry out agonizingly to those who are thus treating them, 
" Let us alone !" — but the slaveholders give no heed to that cry at 
all ! Now, I will agree to let the slaveholders alone when they let 
their slaves alone, and not till then. [Applause.] 

" Let this matter rest with the South ; leave slavery in the care 
and keeping of slaveholders, to put an end to it at the right time, 
as they best understand the whole matter." You will hear men, 
claiming to be intelligent, talking in this manner continually. They 
do not know what idiots they are; for is it anything better than 
idiocy for men to say : " Leave idolatry to idolaters, to be abolish- 
ed when they think best ; leave intemperance to drunkards ; they 
best understand all about it ; they will undoubtedly, if let alone, 
in God's own time, put an end to it [laughter] ; leave piracy to be 
abolished by pirates ; leave impurity to the licentious to be done 
away ; leave the sheep to the considerate humanity of wolves, when 
they will cease to prey upon them !" No, this is not common 
sense ; it is hot sound reason ; it is nothing but sheer folly. Sal- 
vation, if it comes at all, must come from without. Those who are 
not drunkards must save the drunken ; those who are not impure 
must save the impure; those who are not idolaters must combine 
to put down idolatry ; or the world can never make any progress. 
So we who are not slaveholders are under obligation to combine, 
and by every legitimate method endeavor to abolish slavery ; for 
the slaveholders will never do it if they can possibly help it. Why 
do you send your missionaries abroad ? Why do you go to the isles 
of the sea, to Hindostan and Burmah and other parts of the heathen 
world with your meddlesome, impertinent, disorganizing religion? 
Because you affirm that your object is good and noble ; because 
you believe that the Christian religion is the true religion, and that 
idolatry debases and deludes its votaries ; and to abolish it, or to 
endeavor to do so, is right. And yet you have no complicity with 
heathenism abroad. Nevertheless, your missionaries are there, en- 
deavoring to effect a thorough overturn of all their institutions and 



THEIR RELATIONS TO THE WAR. 37 

all their established ideas, so that old things shall pass away, and 
all things become new. But how is it in regard to slavery ? You 
have something to do — aye, a great deal to do with it. You ought 
to know precisely where yon stand, and what are your obligations 
in relation to it. Only think of it! Under your boasted Constitu- 
tion, two generations of slaves have been driven to unrequited toil, 
and gone down into bloody graves; and a third generation i3 going 
through the same terrible career, with the Star Spangled Banner 
floating over their heads ! This is by your complicity, men of the 
North ! Oh, how consentingly the North has given her sympathy 
to the South in this iniquity of slaveholding ! How everywhere 
the anti-slavery movement has been spit upon, and denounced, 
and caricatured, and hunted down, as if it were a wild beast, that 
could not be tolerated safely for an hour in the community ! What 
weapon has been left unused against the Abolitionists of the North ? 
How thoroughly have the people been tested everywhere, both in 
Church and State, in relation to the slave system of the South ! 
But " Wisdom is justified of her children." The Abolitionists se- 
renely bide their time. The verdict of posterity is sure ; and it 
will be an honorable acquittal of ihem from all the foul charges 
that have been brought against them by a pro-slavery people. 

I do not think it is greatly to the shame of Abolitionists that 
the New York Herald can not tolerate them. [Laughter and ap- 
plause.] I do not think it at all to their discredit that the Journal 
of Commerce thoroughly abominates them. [Laughter.] I do not 
think they have any cause to hang their heads for shame because 
the New York Express deems them fit only to be spit upon. [Ap- 
plause.] I do not think they have any reason to distrust the 
soundness of their religion because the New York Observer brands 
them as infidels. [Applause.] Captain Eynders is not an Aboli- 
tionist. [Great laughter.] The Bowery Boys do not like Aboli- 
tionism. [Laughter.] And as it was eighteen hundred years ago, 
so we have had, in this trial of the nation, the chief priests and 
Scribes and Pharisees on the one hand, and the rabble on the other, 
endeavoring by lawless means and murderous instrumentalities to 
put down the anti-slavery movement, which is of God, and can 
not be put down. [Applause.] The slaveholders who have risen 
in rebellion to overthrow the Government, and crush out free 
institutions, are in the mood of mind, and ever have been, to hang 
every Abolitionist they can catch. I hold that to be a good cer- 
tificate of character [applause], and when I add that the millions 



38 



THE ABOLITIONISTS. AND 



of slaves in bondage, perishing in their chains, and crying unto 
Heaven for deliverance, are ever ready to give their blessings to 
the Abolitionists for what they have done, and when tbey run 
away from their masters come to us, who are represented to be 
their deadliest enemies, it seems to me we have made out our case. 
Such Abolitionism every honest, humane, upright, and noble soul 
ought to indorse as right. 

And besides, I say it is a shame that we should any longer stand 
apart — I mean we of the North. What are all your paltry distinc- 
tions worth ? You are not Abolitionists. Ob, no. You are only 
anti-slavery ! Dare you trust yourself in Carolina, except, perhaps, 
at Port Royal? [Laughter.] You are not an ultra anti-slavery 
man ; there is nothing ultra about you. You are only a Repub- 
lican ! Dare you go to New Orleans ? Why, the President of the 
United States, chosen by the will of the people, and duly inaugu- 
rated by solemn oath, is an outlaw in nearly every slave State in 
this Union ! He can not show himself there, except at the peril 
of his life. And so of his Cabinet. I think it is time, under these 
circumstances, that we should all hang together, or, as one said of 
old, "We shall be pretty sure, if caught, to hang separately." 
[Laughter.] The South cares nothing for these nice distinctions 
among us. It is precisely on this matter of slavery as it is in 
regard to the position of Rome respecting Protestantism. Our 
Protestant sects assume to be each one the true sect, as against 
every other, and we are free in our denunciation of this or that 
sect as heretical, because not accepting our particular theological 
creed. What does Rome care for any such distinction ? Whether 
we are High Church Episcopalian or Methodist, Quaker or Univer- 
salist, Presbyterian or Unitarian, we are all included in unbelief, 
we are all heretics together ; and she makes no compromise. Just 
so with slavery. If we avow that we are at all opposed to slav- 
ery, it is enough, in the judgment of the South, to condemn us to 
a coat of tar and feathers, and to general outlawry. 

I come now to consider what are the relations of the Abolition- 
ists to the war. Fourteen months ago, after a heated Presidential 
struggle, with three candidates in the field, Abraham Lincoln was 
duly and constitutionally chosen President of the United States. 
Now where are we? At that time, who doubted the stability of 
the American Union ? What power in the universe had we to 
fear? Was it not pronounced impossible for any real harm to 
come to us? How strong was our mountain, and how confident 



THEIR RELATIONS TO THE WAR. 39 

our expectations in regard to the future ! And now our country is 
dismembered, the Union sundered, and we are in the midst of the 
greatest civil war that the world has ever known. For a score of 
years, prophetic voices were heard admonishing the nation, " Be- 
cause ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and 
with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge 
shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made 
lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. There- 
fore, thus saith the Lord God. Judgment will I lay to the line, and 
righteousness to the plummet; and the waters shall overflow the 
hiding-place ; and your covenant with deatli shall be annulled, and 
your agreement with hell shall not stand." And now it is verified 
to the letter with us. In vain are all efforts to have it otherwise, 
"hie that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have 
them in derision." "Though hand join in hand, yet shall not the 
wicked go unpunished." Yes, America! "Though thou exalt 
thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, 
thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord." 

Who are responsible for this war? If I should go out into the 
streets for a popular reply, it would be, " The Abolitionists" — or, 
to use the profane vernacular of the vile, " It is all owing to the 
"*d — d Abolitionists. [Laughter.] If they had not meddled with 
the subject of slavery, everything would have gone on well ; we 
should have lived in peace all the days of our lives. But they in- 
sisted upon meddling with what doesn't concern them ; they 
indulged in censorious and harsh language against the slaveholders, 
and the result is, our nation is upturned, and we have immense 
hostile armies looking each other fiercely in the face, and our glo- 
rious Union is violently broken asunder." Let me read an extract 
from the New York Express for your express edification : 

" Our convictions are, that anti-slavery stimulated, and is the animating cause of 
this rebellion. If anti-slavery were now removed from the field of action, pro- 
slavery would perish of itself, at home, in its own contortions." [Laughter.] 

Well, I do not think I can make a better reply to such nonsense 
than was made by your chairman, jn a brief letter which he sent 
tu the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society 
at West Chester, a few weeks ago, and by his permission I will 

read it : 

• 

"My opinion is this: There is war because there was a Republican party. There 
was a Republican party because there was an Abolition party. There was an 
Abolition party because there was slavery. Now, to charge the war upon Repub- 
licanism is merely to blame the lamb that stood in the brook. To charge it upon 
Abolitionism is merely to blame the sheep for being the lamb's mother. [Laugh- 
ter.] But to charge it upon slavery is to lay the crime flat at the door of ilie wolf, 



4Q THE ABOLITIONISTS, AND 

where it belongs. [Laughb r.] To the end of trouble, kill the wolf. [Renewed 
laughter.] I belong to the party of wolf-killers." [Applause and merriment.] 

And let all the people say Amen ! [Cheers.] 

But consider the absurdity of this charge. Who are the avowed 
Abolitionists of our country? I have told you they occupy a very 
unpopular position in society — and certainly very few men have 
yet had the moral courage to glory in the name of Abolitionist. 
They are comparatively a mere handful. And yet they have over- 
turned the Government! They have been stronger than all the 
parties and all the religious bodies of the country — stronger than 
the Church, and stronger than the State. Indeed ! Then it must 
be because with them is the power of God, and it is the Truth 
which has worked out this marvelous result. [Cheers.] 

How many Abolition presses do you suppose exist in this coun- 
try ? We have, I believe, three or four thousand journals printed 
in the United States ; and how many Abolition journals do you 
suppose there are ? [Laughter.] You can count them all by the fin- 
gers upon your hand ; yet, it seems, they are more than a match 
for all the rest put together. This is very extraordinary ; but, our 
enemies being judges, it is certainly true. And now, what has been 
our crime ? I affirm, before God, that our crime has been only 
this : we have endeavored, at least, to remember those in bonds as 
bound with them. I, for one, am guilty only to this extent: I 
have called aloud for more than thirty years to my beloved but 
guilty country, saying: 

" There is within thy gates a pest, 
Gobi, and a Babylonish vest ; 
Not hid in sin-concealing shade, 
But broad against the sun displayed ! 
Repent thee, then, and quickly bring 
Forth from the camp th' accursed thing ; 
Consign it to remorseless fire, 
Watch till the latest spark expire; 
Then strew its ashes on ihe wind, 
Nor leave one atom wreck behind. 
So shall thy wealth and power increase; 
So shall thy people dwell in peace ; 
On thee th' Almighty's glory rest, 
And all the earth in thee be blest !" 

And what if the Abolitionists had been heeded thirty years ago ? 
Would there now be any civil war to talk about ? [Cries of '' No."] 
Ten years ago? five years ago ? one year ago? And all that time 
God was patient and forbearing, giving us an opportunity of escape. 
But the nation would not hearken, and went on hardening its heart. 
Oh ! how guilty are the conspirators of the South in what they 
have done ! How utterly unjustifiable and causeless is their rebel- 
lion ! How foul and false their accusations against the Government, 



THEIR RELATIONS TO THE WAR. 4^ 

against the Republican party, against the people of the North ! 
Utterly, inexcusably, and horribly wicked ! But let us remember, 
to our shame and condemnation as a people, that the guilt is not 
all theirs. I assert that they have been encouraged in every con- 
ceivable way to do ali this for more than thirty years— encouraged 
by the press of the North, by the churches of the North, by the 
pulpits of the North (comprehensively speaking). Abolitionists 
have been hunted as outlaws, or denounced as wild fanatics; while 
the slaveholders have been encouraged to go ou, making one de- 
mand after another, until they felt assured that when they struck 
tins blow, they would have a powerful party at the North with 
them, to accomplish their treasonable designs ; and it is only by 
God's providence we have escaped utter ruin. [Loud applause.] 
Therefore it is that the vials of Divine retribution are poured out 
so impartially. We are suffering ; our blood is flowing, our prop- 
erly is melting away — and who can see the end of it? Well, if 
the whole nation should be emptied, I should say : " Oh ! give 
thanks unto the Lord ; for he is good, for his mercy endureth for- 
ever !" Our crime against these four millions of slaves, and against 
a similar number who have been buried, can not be adequately de- 
scribed by human language. Our hands are full of blood, and we 
have run to do evil ; and now a heavy but righteous judgment is 
upon us ! Let us reverently acknowledge the hand of God in this ; 
let us acknowledge our sins, and put them away ; and let each man 
put the trump of jubilee to his lips, and demand that the chains of 
the oppressed shall be broken forever ! [Cheers.] 

" The Abolitionists have used very irritating language !" I know 
it. I think, however, it must be admitted that that charge has 
been fully offset by the Southern slaveholders and their Northern 
accomplices ; for, if my memory serves me, they have used a great 
deal of irritating language about the Abolitionists. Indeed, I do 
not know of any abusive, false, profane, malicious, abominable 
epithets which they have not applied without stint to the Aboli- 
tionists — besides any amount of tarring and feathering, and other 
brutal outrages, in which we have never indulged towards them! 
[Laughter and cheers.] Irritating language, forsooth? Why, 
gentlemen, all that we have said is, "Do not steal," "Do not mur- 
der," " Do not commit adultery," — and it has irritated them ! [Ap- 
plause and laughter.] Of course, it must irritate them. The galled 
jade will wince. John Hancock and Sam Adams greatly irritated 
George the Third and Lord North. There was a great deal of 



42 THE ABOLITIONISTS, AND 

British irritation at Lexington and Bunker Ball, and it culminated 
at last at Yorktown. [Loud cheers.] Well, it is certain that a very 
remarkable change lias taken place within a short time. They who 
have complained of our hard language, as applied to the slavehold- 
ers, are now for throwing cannon-balls and bomb-shells at them! 
They have no objection to blowing out their brains, but you must 
not use hard language ! Now, I would much rather a man would 
hurl a hard epithet at my head than the softest cannon-ball or 
shell that can be found in the army of the North. As a people, 
however, we are coming to the conclusion that, after all, the great 
body of the slaveholders are not exactly the honest, honorable, and 
Christian men that we mistook them to be. [Applause.] It is as- 
tonishing, when any wrong is done to us, how easily we can see 
its true nature. What an eye-salve it is ! If any one picks our 
pocket, of course he is a thief; if any one breaks into our house, 
he is a burglar ; if any one undertakes to outrage us, he is a scoun- 
drel. And now that these slaveholders are in rebellion against the 
Government, committing piracy upon our commerce, confiscating 
Northern property to the amount of hundreds of millions of dollars, 
and plunging the country into all the horrors of civil war, why, of 
course, they are pirates — they are swindlers — they are traitors of 
the deepest dye ! [Cheers and laughter.] Ladies and gentlemen, 
let me tell you 'one thing, and that is, they are just as good as they ■ 
ever were. They are just as honest, just as honorable, and just as 
Christian as they ever were. [Laughter.] Circumstances alter 
cases, you know. While they were robbing four millions of God's 
despised children of a different complexion from our own, stripping 
them of all their rights, selling them in lots to suit purchasers, and 
trafficking in their blood, they were upright, patriotic, Christian 
gentlemen ! Now that they have interfered with us and our rights, 
have confiscated our property, and are treasonably seeking to es- 
tablish a rival confederacy, they are downright villains and traitors, 
who ought to be hanged by the neck until they are dead. [Cheers.] 
" Abolitionists should not have intermeddled with their affairs," 
it is said. " We of the North are not responsible for slavery, and 
it is a very good rule for men to mind their own business." Who 
say this? Hypocrites, dissemblers, men who are condemned out 
of their own mouths. They are those who are always justifying 
or apologizing for slavery, who are in religious fellowship with 
these traffickers in human souls, who claim political affinity with 
them, and who give constitutional guarantees that fugitive slaves 



THEIR RELATIONS TO THE WAR. 43 

may be hunted and captured in every part of the North, and that 
slave insurrections shall be suppressed by the strong arm of the na- 
tional Government, if need be ; and yet they have nothing to do 
with slavery ! Hypocrites and dissemblers, I spurn you all ! When 
I see a man drowning, if I can throw him a rope, I will do it; and 
if I would not, would I not be a murderer ? When I see a man 
falling among thieves, and w r ounded and forsaken, if I can get to 
him with oil and wine to bind up his wounds, I am bound to do it; 
and if I refuse, I become as base as the robber who struck him 
down. And when I see tyranny trampling upon my fellow-man, I 
know of no law, human or divine, which binds me to silence. I am 
bound to protest against it. [Cheers.] I will not be dumb. It is my 
business to meddle with oppression wherever I see it. [Applause.] 
It is said, again, '• There was no trouble in the land until the 
Abolitionists appeared." Well, the more is the pity ! Order reigns 
in Warsaw until Kosciusko makes his appearance. It reigns in 
Hungary until Kossuth comes forward — in Italy, until Garibaldi 
takes the field. [Loud cheers.] No trouble until the Abolitionists 
came forward ! The charge is false — historically untrue. Witness 
the struggle that took place at the formation of your Constitution, 
in regard to the slavery guarantees of that instrument. What is 
the testimony of John Quincy Adams on that point? lie says : 

" In the articles of Confederation, there was no guaranty for the property of the 
slaveholder— no double representation of him in the Federal councils — no power 
of taxation — no stipulation for the recovery of fugitive slaves. But when the pow- 
ers of Government came to be delegated to the Union, the South— that is, South 
Carolina and Georgia — refused their subscription to the parchment till it should be 
saturated with the infection of slavery, which no fumigation could purify, no quar- 
antine could extinguish. The freemen of the North gave way, and the deadly 
veuom of slavery was infused into the Constitution of Freedom." 

And so at the time of the Missouri struggle in 1820. There 
were no Abolitionists then in the field; yet the struggle between 
freedom and slavery was at that time so fierce and terrible as to 
threaten to end in a dissolution of the Union. [Cheers.] Oh ! no 
stain of blood rests on the garments of the Abolitionists. They 
have endeavored to prevent the awful calamity which has come 
upon the nation, and they may wash their hands in innocency, and 
thank God that in the evil day they were able to stand. [Applause.] 

No, my friends, this fearful state of things is not of men ; it is 
of Heaven. As we have sowed, we are reaping. The whole 
cause of it is declared in the memorable verse of the prophet: 
u Ye have not hearkened unto me in proclaiming liberty, every 
man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I pro- 
claim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pesti- 



44 THE ABOLITIONISTS, AND 

lence, and to the famine." That is the whole story. This is the 
settlement day of God Almighty for the unparalleled guilt of our 
nation ; and if we desire to be saved, we must see to it that we 
put away our sins, "break every yoke, and let the oppressed go 
tree," and thus save our land from ruin. [Applause.] 

Be not deceived ; this rebellion is not only to eternize the en- 
slavement of the African race, but it is also to overturn the free 
institutions of the North. The slaveholders of the South are not 
only opposed to Northern Abolitionists, but to Northern ideas and 
Northern institutions. Shall I refresh your memories by one or 
two quotations in point ? Listen to the language of the Richmond 
Examiner : 

" The South now maintains that slavery is right, natural, and necpssary, and does 
not depend upon complexion. The laws of the slave States justify the holding of 
while i/ien in bondage." 

The Charleston Mercury says : 

" Slavery is the natural and normal condition of the laboring man, -whether white 
or black. The greal evil of Northern free (mark you, not Abolition) society is that 
it is burdened with a servile class, mechanics and laborers, unfit for self-govern- 
ment, and yet clothed with the attributes and powers of citizens. Master and slave 
is a relation in society as necessary as that of parent and child ; and the Northern 
States will yet have to introduce it. Their theory of free government is a delusion.' 

Yet you are for free government, but not for Abolitionism ! What 
do you gain by the disclaimer? The South is as much opposed to 
the one as she is to the other — she hates and repudiates them both ! 

The Richmond Enquirer says : 

"Two opposite and conflicting forms of society can not, among civilized men, 
co-exist and endure. The one must give way and cease to exist. The other be- 
comes universal. If free society be unnatural, immoral, unchristian, it mu*t fall, 
and give way to slave society — a social system old as the world, universal as man." 

An Alabama paper says : 

"All the Northern, and especially the New England States, are devoid of society 
fi.ted for well-bred gentlemen. The prevailing' class one meets with is that of 
mechanics struggling to he genteel, and small farmers who do their own drudgery, 
and yet who are hardly fit for associating with a Southern gentleman's body-servant." 

You see, men of the North, it is a war against freedom — your 
freedom as well as that of the slave — against the freedom of man- 
kind. It is to-establish an oligarchic, slaveholding despotism, to 
the extinction of all free institutions. The Southern rebellion is 
in full blast; and if they can work their will against us, there will 
be for us no liberty of speech or of the press — no right to assemble 
as we assemble here to-night, and our manhood will be trampled 
in the dust. [Applause.] I say, therefore, under these circum- 
stances, treason consists in giving aid or countenance to the slave 
system of the South — not merely to Jeff Davis, as president of the 
Southern Confederacy, or to this rebel movement in special. 
Every man who gives any countenance or support to slavery is a 
traitor to liberty. [Enthusiastic applause.] 1 say he is a danger- 
ous and unsafe man. [Renewed cheers.] He carries within him 
the seeds of despotism, and no one can tell how soon a harvest of 
blood and treason may spring up. Liberty goes with Union and 



THEIB EELATIONS TO THE WAR. 45 

for Union, based on judgment and equality. Slavery is utter dis- 
union and disorganization in God's universe. [Cheers.] 

But, we are told, "hang the Secessionists on the one hand, and 
the Abolitionists on the other, and then we shall have peace." 
[Laughter.] How very discriminating! Now, I say, if any hang- 
ing is to be done (though I do not believe in capital punishment — ■ 
that is one of my heresies) — if any hanging is to be done, I am for 
hanging these sneaking, two-faced, pseudo-loyal go-betweens im- 
mediately. [Loud and enthusiastic applause. A voice, "That's 
the talk!"] Why, as to this matter of loyalty, I maintain that 
the most loyal people to a free government who walk on the 
American soil, are the uncompromising Abolitionists. [Cheers.] 
It is not freedom that rises in rebellion against free government. 
It is not the love of liberty that endangers it. It is not those who 
will not make any compromise with tyranny who threaten it. It 
is those who strike hands with the oppressors. Yes, I maintain 
the Abolitionists are more loyal to free government and free insti- 
tutions than President Lincoln himself; because, while I want to 
say everything good of him that I can, 1 must say I think he is 
lacking somewhat in backbone, and is disposed, at least, to make 
some compromise with slavery, in order to bring back the old state 
of things; and, therefore, he is nearer Jeff Davis than I am. Still, 
we are both so bad, that I suppose if we should go amicably to- 
gether down South, we never should come back again. 

"Hang the Abolitionists, and then hang the Secessionists!" 
Why, in the name of common sense, wherein are these parties 
agreed? Their principles and purposes are totally dissimilar. We 
believe in the inalienable rights of man — in "liberty, equality, 
fraternity." They disbelieve in all these. We believe in making 
the law of God paramount to all human codes, compacts, and 
enactments. They believe in trampling it under their feet, to 
gratify their lust of dominion, and in "exalting themselves above 
all that is called God." We believe in the duty of liberating all 
who are pining in bondage. They are for extending and perpetu- 
ating slavery to the latest posterity. We believe in free govern- 
ment and free institutions. They believe in the overthrow of all 
these, and have made chattel bondage the corner-stone of their 
new confederacy. Where is there any agreement or similarity 
between these parties? 

But it may be said you are for the dissolution of the Union. I 
was. L)id I have any sympathy with the spirit of Southern seces- 
sion when I took that position ? No. My issue was a moral one 
— a Christian one. It was because of the pro-slavery nature of 
the compact itself that I said I could not, as a Christian man, as a 
friend of liberty, swear to uphold such a Union or Constitution. 
Listen to the declaration of John Quincy Adams, a most compe- 
tent witness, I think, in regard to this matter : 

" It can not be denieil— the slaveholder; lords of the South prescribed as a con- 
dition 0!' their assent to the Constitution, three specific provisions to secure the per- 
petuity of their dominion over their slaves. The first was the immunity for twenty 



40 TIIE ABOLITIONISTS, AND 

years of preserving the slave-trade ; the second was the stipulation to surrender 
fugitive slaves — an engagement positively prohibited by tho laws of God, delivered 
from Sinai ; and thirdly, the exaction, fatal to the principles of popular representa- 
tion, of a representation of slaves, for articles of merchandise, under the name of 
persons. 

"The bargain between freedom and slavery, contained in the Constitution of the 
United States, iBmorally and politically vicious — inconsistent with the principles 
on which alone our Revolution can be jusiified — cruel and oppressive, by riveting 
the chains of slavery, by pledging the faith of freedom to maintain and perpetuate 
the tyranny of the master, and grossly unequal and impolitic, by admitting that 
slaves are at once enemies to be kept in subjection, property to be secured and 
returned to their owners, and persons not to be represented themselves, but for 
whom their masters are privileged with nearly a double share of representation. 
The consequence has been that this slave representation has governed the Union. 
Benjamin's portion above his brethren has ravined as a wolf. In the morning he 
has devoured the prey, and in the evening has divided the spoil." 

Hence I adopted the language of the prophet Isaiah, and pro- 
nounced the Constitution, in these particulars, to be " a covenant 
with death, and an agreement with hell." Was I not justified as a 
Christian man in so doing ? Oh, but the New York Journal of 
Commerce says there seems to have taken place a great and sudden 
change in my views — I no longer place this motto at the head of 
my paper. Well, ladies and gentlemen, you remember what Bene- 
dick in the play says : " When I said I would die a bachelor, I did 
not think I would live to get married." [Laughter.] And when I 
said I would, not sustain the Constitution, because it was " a cove- 
nant with death, and an agreement with hell," I had no idea that 
I would live to see death and hell secede. [Prolonged applause and 
laughter.] Hence it is that I am now with the Government to en- 
able it to constitutionally stop the further ravages of death, and to 
extinguish the ilames of hell forever. [Renewed applause.] 

We are coolly told that slavery has nothing to do with this war! 
Believe me, of all traitors in this country who are most to be feared 
and detested, they are those who raise this cry. We have little to 
fear, I think, from the Southern rebels, comparatively : it is those 
Northern traitors, who, under the mask of loyalty, are doing the 
work of the devil, and effectively aiding the Secessionists by trying 
to intimidate the national government from striking a direct blow 
at the source of the rebellion, who make our position a dangerous 
one. [Applause.] What? slavery nothing to do with this war! 
How does ir happen, then, that the war is all along the border be- 
tween the free and the slave States ? What is the meaning of this ? 
For there is not a truly loyal slave State in the Union — not one. 
[Voices — " That's so."] I maintain that Maryland, Kentucky, and 
Missouri are, by thejr feigned loyalty, greater obstacles in the way 
of victory than Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia. Nothing but the 
presence on their soil of the great army of the North keeps them loyal, 
even in form, and even under such a pressure they are full of overt 
treason. They have to be enticed to remain in the Union, as a man 
said he once enticed a burglar out of his house — he enticed him 
with a pitchfork ! [Laughter.] Withdraw your troops, and instantly 
they will fall into the Southern Confederacy by the law of gravita- 
tion. That is the whole of it. But this is not to be loyal — this is 
not a willing support of the Constitution and the Union. No ! On 



THEIR RELATIONS TO THE WAR. 47 

the other hand, every free State is true to the Government. It is 
the inevitable struggle between the children of the bond-woman 
and the children of the free. [Applause.] 

Treason — where is it most rampant? Just where there are the 
most slaves! It disappears where there are no slaves, except in 
those cases to which I have referred, of skulking, double-faced hyp- 
ocrites, wearing the mask of loyalty, and yet having the heart of 
traitors. [Applause.] What State led off in this atrocious rebellion ? 
Why, South Carolina, of course, for in that State the slave popula- 
tion outnumbers the white. And so of Louisiana, out of which 
every avowed Unionist has been driven by violence: more than 
half of her population are slaves. Charleston and New Orleans are 
the head-quarters of treason, because the head-quarters of slavery. 
Besides, do not the rebels proclaim to the world that the issue they 
make is the perpetuation of their slave system and the overthrow 
of free government? Commend them for their openness: they 
avow just what they mean, and what they desire to accomplish. 
Now, then, for any party at the North to say, "Don't point at slavery 
as the source of the rebellion — it has nothing whatever to do with 
it — the Abolitionists are alone to be held responsible" — why, I have 
no words to express my contempt for such dissemblers. I brand 
them as worse than the rebels who are armed and equipped for the 
se'12 ure of the capital. 

It is loudly vociferated in certain quarters, " This is not a war 
for the abolition of slavery, but solely to maintain the Union." 
Granted, ten thousand times over ! I, as an Abolitionist, have never 
asserted the contrary. But the true issue is, in order that the Union 
may be perpetuated, shall not slavery, the cause of its dismembei*- 
ment, be stricken down to the earth ? The necessity is found in the 
present imperiled state of the Government, and in the fatal exper- 
iment of the past. There can not again be a uuion of the States 
as it existed before the rebellion; for while I will not underrate 
Northern valor, but believe that Northern soldiei - s are competes t 
to achieve anything that men can do in the nature of things, I have 
no faith in the success of the army in its attempt to subdue the 
South, while leaving slavery alive upon her soil. If any quarter is 
given to it, it seems to me that our defeat is just as certain in the 
end as that God reigns. We have got to make up our minds to one 
of three alternatives ; either to be vanquished by the rebel forces, 
or to see the Southern Confederacy shortly acknowledged by the 
European powers : or else, for self-preservation and to maintain its 
supremacy over the whole country, the Government must transform 
every slave into a man and a freeman, henceforth to be protected 
as such under the national ensign. [Applause.] The right of the 
Government to do this, in the present fearful emergency, is unques- 
tionable. Has not slavery made itself an outlaw ? And what claim 
has an outlaw upon the Constitution or the Union ? Guilty of the 
blackest treason, what claims have the traitors upon the Govern- 
ment ? Why, the claim to be hanged by the neck until they are 
" dead, dead, dead" — nothing else. [Applause.] 



48 THE ABOLITIONISTS, AND 

What sane man, what true patriot, wants the old Union restored 
—the Slave Oligarchy once more in power over the free States — 
Congress under slaveholding mastership — the army, navy, treasury, 
executive, supreme court, all controlled by the traffickers in human 
flesh? No! no! Happily, the Government may now constitution- 
ally do what until the secession it had not the power to do. For 
thirty years the Abolitionists have sent in their petitions to Con- 
gress, asking that body to abolish slavery in the District of Colum- 
bia, to prevent the further extension of slavery, to repeal the Fugi- 
tive Slave Law, etc., etc., but not to interfere with slavery in the 
Southern States. We recognize the compact as it was made. But 
now, by their treasonable course, the slaveholders may no longer 
demand constitutional protection for their slave property. The old 
" covenant with death" should never have been made. Our fathers 
sinned— sinned grievously and inexcusably — when they consented 
to the hunting of fugitive slaves — to a slave representation in Con- 
gress — to the prosecution of the foreign slave-trade, under the na- 
tional flag, for twenty years — to the suppression of slave insurrec- 
tions by the whole power of the Government. I know the dire 
extremity in which they were placed — exhausted by a seven years' 
war, reduced to bankruptcy, bleeding at every pore, fearing that 
the colonies would be conquered in detail by England if they did 
not unite — it was a terrihle temptation to compromise; but it does 
not exonerate them from guilt. The Union should not have been 
made upon such conditions ; but now that the South has trampled 
it under foot, it must not be restored as it was, even if it can be 
done. [Applause.] But it cannot be done. There are two parties 
who will make such a reunion impossible: the first is, the South — 
the second, the North. Besides, what reliable guarantee could be 
given that, after coming back, the South would not secede within 
twenty-four hours ? The right to secede ad libitum is her cardinal 
doctrine. Moreover, she declares that she has taken her leave of 
us forever ; she will not unite with us on any terms. Let me read 
you an extract from Jefferson Davis's last message to the Confed- 
erate Congress : 

" Not only do the causes which induced us to separate still last in full force, but 
they have been strengthened ; and whatever doubt may have lingered on the minds 
of any, must have been completely dispelled by subsequent events. If, instead of 
being a dissolution of a league, it were indeed a rebellion in which we are en- 
gaged, we might feel ample vindication for the course we have adopted in the 
scenes which are now being enacted in the United States. Our people now look 
with contemptuous astonishment on those with whom they have been so recently 
associated. They shrink with aversion from the bare idea of renewing such a con- 
nection. Wiih such a people we may be content to live at peace, but our separa- 
tion is final, and for the independence we have asserted we will accept no alter- 
native." 

Now, this is open and above-board, and it ought to be reso- 
lutely met by the North in the glorious spirit of freedom, saying, 
" By the traitorous position you have assumed, you have put your 
slave system under the absolute control of the Government ; and 
that you may be saved from destruction, as well as the country, we 
shall emancipate every slave in your possession." [Cheers.] 



THEIK RELATIONS TO THE "WAR. 49 

But— say the sham loyalists of the North, "there is no constitu- 
tional right or power to abolish slavery— it would be the over- 
throw of the Constitution if Congress or the President should dare 
to do it." This is nothing better than cant, and treason in dis- 
guise. I should like to know what right General McClellan has 
with an invading army of 150,000 men in Virginia? Is that con- 
stitutional? Did Virginia bargain for that when she entered the 
Union ? By what right did we batter down the fort at Cape Ilat- 
teras? By what right do Northern soldiers "desecrate the sacred 
soil" of South Carolina by capturing Port Royal and occupying 
Beaufort? By what right has the Government half a million of 
troops, invading the South in every quarter, to kill, slay, and de- 
stroy, to "cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war," for the purpose 
of bringing her into subjection ? Where is the right to do this to 
be found in the Constitution ? Where is it ? It is in this section : 
"Congress shall have power to declare war;" and when 
war comes, then come the rules of war, and, under the war 
power, Congress has a constitutional right to abolish slavery if it 
be necessary to save the Government and maintain the Union. 
[Loud applause.] On this point, what better authority do we want 
than that of John Quincy Adams? Hear what he says: 

" I lay this down as the law of nations. I say that military authority takes, for 
the time, the place ot all municipal institutions, and slavery among the red ; and 
that under that state of things, so far from its being true that the States where 
slavery exists have the exclusive management of the subject, not only the Presi- 
dent of the United States, but the commandi r of the army, has power to order the, 
universal emancipation of thi slaves. * * * From the instant that the slave- 
holding States become the' theater of a war, civil, servile, or foreign, from thai in- 
stant the war powers of Congress extend to interference with the institution of 
slavery, in evi ry wa.v in which it can be interfered with, from a claim of indemnity 
for slaves taken or destroyed, to the cession of States, burdened with slavery, to a 
foreign power. * * * "it is a war power. I say it is a war power; and when 
your country is actually in war, whether it be a war of invasion or a war of insur- 
rection, Congress has power to carry on the war, and must carry it on, according to 
the laws of war; and by the laws of war, an invaded country has all its laws and 
municipal institutions swept by the board, and martial power takes the place of 
them. When two hosiile armies are set in martial array, the commanders of both 
armies have power to emancipate all the dace* in the invaded territory." 

I hope Gen. McClellan or President Lincoln will soon be inclined 
to say "ditto" to John Quincy Adams. [Applause.] Commander- 
in-chief of the army, by the law of nations and under the war 
power given by the Constitution, in this terrible emergency you 
have the right and glorious privilege to be the great deliverer of 
the millions in bondage, and the savior of your country! May 
you have the spirit to do it ! 

There are some well-meaning men who unreflectingly say that 
this is despotic power. But the exercise of a constitutional right 
is not despotism. What the people have provided to save the 
Government or the Union is not despotism, but the concentration 
of extraordinary power for beneficent purposes. It is as much a 
constitutional act, therefore, for Gen. McClellan, or the President, 
or Congress, to declare slavery at an end in this country, as it is to 
march an army down into the South to subdue her — as it is to give 
shelter and freedom to the thousands of contrabands already set at 



50 THE ABOLITIONISTS, AND 

liberty. The way is clear; and tinder these circumstances, how 
tremendous will be the guilt of the Government if it refuses to im- 
prove this marvelous opportunity to do a magnificent work of 
justice to one seventh portion of our whole population — to do no 
evil to the South, but to bestow upon her a priceless blessing, and 
thereby perpetuate all that is precious in our free institutions ! I 
would rather take my chance at the judgment-seat of God with 
Pharaoh than with Abraham Lincoln if he do not, as President 
of the United States, in this solemn exigency, let the people go. 
[Applause.] ' He has the power — he has the right. The capital is 
virtually in a state of siege — the rebels are strong, confident, de- 
fiant; scarcely any progress has been made in quelling the rebel- 
lion. We do not know where we are, or what is before os. Al- 
ready hundreds of millions of dollars in debt — blood flowing freely, 
but in vain — the danger of the speedy recognition of the Southern 
Confederacy by European powers imminent — what valid excuse 
can the Government give for hesitating under such a pressure? 
And when you consider that slavery — which in itseif is full of 
weakness and danger to the South — is, by the forbearance of the 
Government, made a formidable power in the hands of the rebels 
for its overthrow, you perceive there is a pressing reason why there 
should be no delay. 

Only think of it! Our colored population, bond and free, could 
furnish an army of a million men from eighteen to forty-five years 
of age, and yet not one of them is allowed to shoulder a musket ! 
There are in slavery more than eight hundred thousand men ca- 
pable of bearing arms — a number larger than the two great hostile 
armies already in the field. They are at the service of the Gov- 
ernment whenever it will accept them as free and loyal inhabit- 
ants. [Applause.] It will not accept them ! But the rebel slave- 
holders are mustering them in companies and regiments, and they 
are shooting down Northern men, and in every way giving strength 
and success to the rebellion. Slavery is a thunderbolt in the hands 
of the traitors to smite the Government to the dust. That thun- 
derbolt might be seized and turned against the rebellion with fatal 
effect, and at the same time without injury to the South. My 
heart glows when I think of the good thus to be done to the op- 
pressors as well as to the oppressed ; for I could not stand here, I 
could not stand anywhere, and advocate vindictive and destruc- 
tive measures to bring the rebels to terms. I do not believe in 
killing or doing injury even to enemies — God forbid ! That is not 
my Christian philosophy. Put I do say, that never before in the 
history of the world has God vouchsafed to a government the 
power to do such a work of philanthropy and justice, in the ex- 
tremity of its danger and for self-preservation, as he now grants to 
this Government. Emancipation is to destroy nothing but evil; 
it is to establish good; it is to transform human beings from things 
into men; it is to make freedom, and education, and invention, 
and enterprise, and prosperity, and peace, and a true Union pos- 
sible and sure. Pedeemed from the curse of slavery, the South 



THEIR RELATIONS TO THE WAR. 51 

shall in clue time be as the garden of God, Though driven to the 
wall and reduced to great extremity by this rebellion, still we hold 
off, hold off, and reluctantly say, at last, if it must be so, but only 
to save ourselves from destruction, we will do this rebellious South 
the most beneficent act that any people ever yet did — one that will 
secure historic renown for the administration, make this struggle 
memorable in all ages, and bring down upon the land the benedic- 
tion of God ! But we will not do this, if we can possibly avoid 
it ! Now, for myself, both as an act of justice to the oppressed and 
to serve the cause of freedom universally, I want the Government 
to be in haste to blow the trump of jubilee. I desire to bless and 
not curse the South— to make her prosperous and happy by sub- 
stituting free institutions for her leprous system of slavery. I am 
as much interested in the safety and welfare of the slaveholders, as 
brother men, as I am in the liberation of their poor slaves ; for we 
are all the children of God, and should strive to promote the happi- 
ness of all. I desire that the mission of Jesus, " Peace on earth, 
good-will to men," may be fulfilled in this and in every land. 

Bear in mind that the colored people have always been loyal to 
the country. You never heard of a traitor among them, when left 
to freedom of choice. Is it not most humiliating— ought we not to 
blush for shame — when we remember what we have done to them, 
and what they have done for us ? In our Eevolutionary struggle 
they freely participated, and helped to win our national independ- 
ence. The first patriotic blood that stained the pavements of Bos- 
ton, in 1770, was that of Crispus Attucks, a black man. It was 
reter Salem, a black man, who shot the British leader, Major Pit- 
cairn, as, storming the breastworks at Bunker Hill, he exclaimed, 
" The day is ours !" Throughout that memorable struggle, the col- 
ored men were ever ready to pour out their blood and lay down 
their lives to secure the liberties we now enjoy ; and they were ad- 
mitted to have been among the bravest of the brave. In the war 
of 1812, when New Orleans was threatened by a formidable Brit- 
ish force, do you remember what Gen. Jackson said when he needed 
their help ? He did not scorn them in the hour of peril ; far from it. 
This was his proclamation : 

" Headqttaetehs, Seventh Military Distbict, ) 
Mobile, Sept. 21, 1814. j 

To the Free Colored Inhabitants of Louisiana : 

Through a mistaken policy, you have been heretofore deprived of a participation 
in the glorious struggle for national rights in which this country in engaged. This 
no longer shall exist, .. ■ 

As sons of freedom, you are now called upon to defend our most inestimable bus- 
ings: As Americans, your country looks with confidence to her adopted children 
for a valorous support, as a faithful return for the advantages enjoyed under her 
mild and equitable Government. As lathers, husbands, and brothers, you are sum- 
moned to rally round the standard of the eagle, to defend all which is dear m exist- 

el Your country, although calling for your exertions, does not wish you to engage in 
her cause without remunerating you for the services rendered. \ our intelligent 
minds are not to be led away by false representations. Your love of honor would 
cause you to despise the man who should attempt to deceive you. With the sincer- 
ity of a soldier and the language ot truth I address you. .... t 
To every noble-hearted freeman of color volunteering to serve during the present 



52 THE ABOLITIONISTS, AND 

contest with Great Britain, and no longer, there will be paid the same bounty, in 
money and lands, now received by the while soldiers of the United States, viz. : one 
hundred and twenty-four dollars in money, and one hundred and sixty acres of land. 
The non commissioned officers and privates will also be entitled to the same monthly 

pay. daily rations, and clothes furnished to any American soldier. 

As a distinct, independent battalion or regiment, pursuing the path of glory, you 
will, undivided, receive the applause and gratitude of your countrymen." 

Then again, after the struggle, he addressed them as follows: 

" Soldiers! When, on the banks of the Mobile, I called upon you to take up 
arms, inviting you to partake of the perils and glory of your white fellow citizens, I 
expected much from you ; for I was not ignorant that you possessed qualities most 
form dable to an invading enemy. I knew with what fortitude you could overcome 
hunger and thirst, and all the fatigues of a campaign. / knew well how y<yii loved 
your native country, and that you, as well as ourselves, had to defend what man 
holds most dear — his parents, wife, children, and property. You have dom more, 
thou I expected. In addition to the previous qualities I before knew you to possess, 
I have found among you a noble enthusiasm, which leads to the performance of 
great things." 

What a splendid tribute! — " I expected much from you, but you 
have done more than I expected !" 

I do not believe in war, but I do say that, if any class of men, 
being grievously oppressed, over had the right to seize deadly 
weapons, and smite their oppressors to the dust, then all men have 
the same right. [Applause.] " A man 's a man, tor a' that." If 
the right of bloody resistance is in proportion to the amount of op- 
pression inflicted, then no people living would he so justified before 
heaven and earth in resisting unto blood as the Southern slaves. 
By that rule, any Nat Turner has a right to parody the famous Mar- 
seillaise, and, addressing his suffering associates, exclaim — • 

" Te fettered slaves ! awake to glory ! 

Hark! hark! what myriads bid you rise ! 

Your children, wives, and grandsirea ho ry, 
Behold their tears and hear their cries! 
To arms, to arms, ye brave ! 

The patriot sword unsheath ! 
March on, march on, all hearts resolved 
Ou liberty or death!" 

Thus do I vindicate the equal humanity of the slaves. Let them 
be emancipated under law as the flag of the Union goes forward, 
and they will behave as well as any other class. They are not a 
bloodthirsty race; they are calumniators who make this charge. 
The Anglo-Saxon race are far more vindictive and revengeful ; 
but the African race are peculiarly mild, gentle, forbearing, forgiv- 
ing. So much indeed do they dread to shed blood, that they can 
not successfully conspire to throw off the yoke without some one 
of them who has been treated kindly, and who desires to shield his 
master or mistress from harm, reveals the secret! When they are 
set fee and protected as free men by the Government, there will 
be little need of a Northern army at the South ; for they will take 
care of the rebel slaveholders, and the rebellion with speedily col- 
lapse. [Applause. J 

It is further said, by way of intimidation, that if the Government 
proclaim emancipation, a, large portion of the officers in t!.e ; rmy 
will instantly resign, and the army itself be broken up. Then they 
will be guilty of treason. [A voice — "They ought to be hanged."] 



THEIR RELATIONS TO THE WAR. 53 

If such are the officers and such the soldiers, then the army is filled 
with traitors. But I believe the imputation to he as false as tho 
prediction is intended to be mischievous. 

There is no squeamishness at the South, on the part of the rebels, 
in making use of the slaves to carry on their treasonable purposes. 
They are used in every way, not merely to provide food and raise 
cotton, but to make rifle-pits, construct batteries, and perform mil- 
itary service. There are two regiments of black soldiers at Cen- 
treville, with more than a thousand man each, compelled to engage 
in the work of butchering those who are loyal to the Union ! Yet 
the Government can have them all any hour it chooses to insure 
their liberty. Refusing to do this, is not the Government itself 
practically guilty of treason to that extent, and making its overthrow 
doubly sure ? This is a serious inquiry, and it ought to be answered 
in a serious manner. 

The worst traitors are those who claim an exemption for the 
rebels from loss of slave property, which the rebels themselves do 
not demand. I turn to the latter, and ask, "Do you claim any- 
thing of us?" "Nothing, except to hate and spurn you." "Do 
you claim anything of the Constitution?" "Nothing, except the 
right to trample it beneath our feet." "Do you deny that we 
have a right to abolish slavery, if we can, since you have treason- 
ably withdrawn from the Union?" "No — we do not deny it; we 
counted the cost of secession, and took all the risk ; you have not 
only the right, as a war power, to liberate every slave in our pos- 
session, but [aside], if you are not idiots, you will do so without 
delay." What if they had a similar advantage on their side? 
What if there were eight hundred thousand men at the North, 
qualified to bear arms, who at a signal could be made to co-operate 
for the triumph of secession? Do you suppose they would allow 
such an opportunity to pass unimproved for one moment? If 
they do not pretend to have any rights under the old Constitution, 
are they not more to be detested than the rebels who, here at the 
North, still insist that they have forfeited none of their rights as 
slaveholders under that instrument? 

This struggle can be happily terminated only in one way — by 
putting "freedom for all" on our banner. We may then chal- 
lenge and shall receive the admiration and support of the civilized 
world. We shall not then be in any danger from abroad. No — 
although England has seemed to be hot, and combative, and inclin- 
ing southward; although the English Government has taken us at 
disadvantage, with a menacing aspect, in the Mason and Slidell 
affair; and although the London Times and other venal presses, 
bribed with secession gold, have indulged in contemptuous and 
bullying language toward the American Government, yet I think 
I know something of the English heart — and I hesitate not to say 
that, in spite of all these unfriendly demonstrations, the heart of 
the English people, the bone and muscle and moral force of the 
nation, beats sympathizingly with the North rather than with the 
South [applause] ; though we have not secured that sympathy to 



54 THE ABOLITIONISTS, ETC. 

the full extent, because of the manner in which we have dealt with 
the slavery question. ' I will venture to say that any Northern 
man, intelligent and qualified to address a public assembly, may 
travel from "the Land's End to John o 1 Groat's House, and wher- 
ever he shall meet a popular assembly, and fairly present the issue 
now pending before them, so that they can understand it, he will 
" bring down the house" overwhelmingly in support of the Govern- 
ment, and against the traitorous Secessionists. [Loud applause.] 

Shall I refer to one representative man of the middle classes, 
John Bright [reiterated and long-continued applause], whose recent 
masterly analysis of this tangled American question, before his 
constituents at Rochdale, will brighten his name and fame as the 
discriminating, fearless, and eloquent champion of freedom at home 
and abroad? lie represents the people of England, in the best 
meaning of that word. Richard Cobden, too, stands by 'his side, 
and renders the same enlightened verdict. [Applause.] And on 
that side of the Atlantic, there is not a more firm, faithful, and 
earnest supporter of this Government, in its struggle to uphold 
the Democratic theory, and to put down the tory sentiment of the 
South — for slavery is toryism run to seed — than the calumniated 
but eloquent and peerless advocate of negro emancipation, George 
Thompson. [Cheers.] 

Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you a thousand times over for 
your patient indulgence in so protracted a speech, and for the ap- 
proval you have bestowed upon my sentiments. We will go for- 
ward in the name of God, in the spirit of liberty, determined to 
have a country, and a whole country — a Constitution, and a free 
Constitution — a Union, and a just and glorious Union, that shall 
endure to the latest posterity ; and when we shall see this civil 
war ended, every bondman set free, and universal liberty prevail- 
ing from the Atlantic to the Pacific, Ave may exultingly repeat the 
language of one* who, in his youthful days, seemed to have the 
flame of liberty brightly burning in his soul : 

"Then hail the day when o'er our land 
The sun of freedom shone ; 
"When, dimmed and sunk in Eastern skies, 

He rose upon our own, 
To chase the night of slavery, 
And wake the Slumbering free ! 
May his light shine more bright, 
May his orb roll sublime, 
Till it warm every clime, 
Aud illume from sea to sea !" [Applause.] 

* Caleb Cushiug. 



THE WAR: 

NOT FOR EMANCIPATION OR CONFISCATION. 



A Speech by Hon. Garrett Davis, of Kentucky, delivered in the U. S. Senate, 
January 23, 1S62. Revised by the Author. 

Mr. Davis commenced speaking on the 22d, upon a resolution expelling Senate 
Bright, of Indiana, but gave way for the Senate to go into executive session. On 
the 23d he finished his very able argument on the resolution, and concluded by 
dealing with the subject of emancipation in rep'y to several Senators, among 
whom were Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, and Mr. Harlan, of Iowa, to whom ft 
■will be noticed he makes allusion. After introducing the subject, and paving a 
high tribute to John Quincy Adams, he spoke as follows : 

I am for putting down this rebellion. I am for visiting the 
leaders with every punishment that can be constitutionally inflicted. 
So far as you can hang the leaders, I say, in the name of justice 
and of our country, hang them. So far as you can constitutionally 
forfeit their property — and forfeiting and confiscation are differ- 
ent things — forfeit it. In confiscation, the property goes into the 
king's exchequer. In forfeiture, it may go to the king, and will 
go to him, unless there is a different destination expressed ; or it 
may go to the public, or it may go to individuals. I say forfeit all 
the estate you can constitutionally of those who have taken an 
active part in this rebellion ; and instead of vesting it in the nation 
— in the United States, if that is disagreeable to gentlemen — forfeit 
it to the innocent and true and faithful men who have been impov- 
erished, and whose families have been reduced to penury and want 
by the ravages of this war. Let it make atonement to them. 
There is a just retribution — in my judgment a constitutional retri- 
bution. Let that retribution be made. You may make it in that 
form without any violation of the Constitution. 

At this point let me put a question to the Senator from Massa- 
chusetts. "While that assembly of sages and of patriots were 
deliberating upon the formation of the Constitution at Philadelphia, 
they despaired at one time of being able to accomplish anything, 
and were about to separate in despair and give up their country in 
hopeless despondency. Franklin advised that they should appeal 
to the throne of grace for instruction and light. That appeal was 
made, and the fruits were afterward manifested in the adoption of 
the Constitution. Suppose that any member of that convention 



56 THE WAR: HOT FOR 

had proposed to incorporate into the Constitution, in explicit words, 
just the powers for which the gentleman now contends, how many 
votes in the convention would such a constitution have obtained? 
If it could have passed that ordeal, and had come to be submitted, 
as it was directed and advised by the members of the convention 
to be submitted, to the people of the States in convention (not in 
their State government, not to their legislatures, but to the people 
of the States in their power and capacity, sitting in sovereign con- 
vention), how many of the States would have approved of a con- 
stitution containing express provisions granting the powers which 
the gentleman now claims? The Constitution never would have 
been made. 

A few more words, Mr. President, and I have done, and I mate 
my humble apology to the Senate for having detained it so 
long. The gentleman said that slavery was the cause of this 
rebellion. In my judgment it has many causes. If the word 
"slavery" had never been spoken in the halls of Congress, there 
would have' been no rebellion, as I think. One of the remote 
causes of this rebellion was the acquisition of Texas. I chanced 
to be a member of the other House when the joint resolution 
usurping the treaty-making power was introduced in the House of 
Representatives to admit Texas as a State into the Union. A 
treaty had been negotiated to that effect a few weeks before by 
Mr. Calhoun, as secretary of state for Mr. Tyler. The Democratic 
party, though they wanted to use Tyler to subvert and overthrow 
the party which placed him in power, never intended to make him 
their chief, and themselves never confided any power to him. 
They determined that he and his administration should never have 
the Jeffersonian glory and fame of having added such a province 
as Texas to the United States of America. 

They therefore voted down that treaty ; they would not allow it 
to get a two-third vote in the Senate, which was requisite. In a 
few weeks afterward a joint resolution, admitting Texas, a foreign 
territory, into the Union, was introduced. I say that no constitu- 
tion was ever more palpably and flagitiously violated than was the 
Constitution of the United States by the introduction and passage 
of that resolution. It is preposterous and absurd to say that Con- 
gress, the legislative department of the Government, clothed with 
no part or parcel of the treaty-making power, may admit foreign 
territory into the United States either as Territory or State. I 
voted against it then. It is no precedent to me now. It is such a 



EMANCIPATION OR CONFISCATION. 



57 



monstrous absurdity that I would not give the act the least con- 
sideration if a parallel proposition were now to be offered. 

What were the fruits of the annexation of Texas? I allude to 
that to show how the woof of vice and of crime is interwoven, 
and how it progresses. Mexico took exception to that act, and she 
inarched her army to Corpus Christi, and under Polk's administra- 
tion that army was met at Palo Alto and at Resaea de la Palma, by 
that old son of Mars, Zachary Taylor, and it was overthrown. 
What did Polk do? He sent a message to Congress declaring that 
American blood had been shed upon American soil, and asking 
Congress to repel the invasion. It is a historical and a geographical 
fact, as demonstrable as such facts can be, that Corpus Christi 
never had been any part of Texas until it was usurped after the 
battle of San Jacinto; that when Texas was one of the Mexican 
states, and one of the Spanish provinces, it had never been any 
part of Texas. What did Congress do? It recognized the war. 
I voted against the war, and I denounced the position of the Presi- 
dent that American blood had been shed upon American soil as a 
falsehood ; and I think that I conclusively proved it to be so in a 
speech that I made upon the subject in the House of Representatives. 

What then took place ? Asa continuation of that line of policy, 
I say, came the war with Mexico. I voted against recognizing 
that war. I voted against it not only for the reason I have stated, 
but for another reason. I knew that the result of the war would 
be the acquisition of more territory; and that whenever we got 
more territory, this apple of discord, this perpetual, this accursed 
question of negro slavery would again be thrown in to divide and 
to distract the people. I then went out of Congress, and now 
have returned. If I had been present in 1821 I might have voted 
against the Missouri compromise ; it is probable I should have dono 
so ; but after it had been passed, and had given peace and quiet to 
the land for a generation, I was utterly opposed to its disturbance; 
and if I had been a member of either House of Congress in 1854-, 
I should have voted, and I should have exerted myself to preserve 
that compromise inviolate. When Kansas was sought to be ad- 
mitted, and the Lecompton constitution was pressed upon Congress 
for adoption, I investigated the subject, and I admitted and believed 
and said publicly and boldly that it was a most outrageous and 
palpable fraud ; and if I had been here in 1858 I should have voted 
against the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton constitution. 

Mr. President, I am here as the humblest member of this body; 



53 THE WAR: NOT FOR 

but I am here not as a factionist, not as a party man. I belong to 
no party. I am too old ; my remaining years on earth are too few 
for me ever to expect to wear another party collar. I am here to 
vote, and to do what I deem to be right upon every question, upon 
every measure, as it comes up in this House, according to the 
lights of my information and of my reason. I am utterly op- 
posed to this emancipation. Oh ! in the name of our country, as 
gentlemen hope to restore this Union, to crush out this rebellion, 
to bring the traitors to justice and to condign punishment, let them 
suspend until that consummation any policy or measures which 
introduce discord. Until this war closes in triumphant success, in 
the glorious reconstruction of the Union, in the assertion of the 
majesty of the Constitution and the laws, let us have unity and 
peace among all men who want to bring about these results. 

I was pained, and inexpressibly pained, the other day, when my 
new but most respected friend from Iowa (Mr. Harlan) signified 
his willingness to put arms in the hands of the slaves. When that 
is done, I would say to my friend that all hope of the reconstruc- 
tion of this Union is gone — gone forever. Oh ! you do not know 
what horrors such a measure might produce. Recur to your early 
reading; examine again in our Library the history of the insurrec- 
tion in San Domingo, with all its blood and atrocities, the reading 
of which makes human nature shudder. I have seen men refugees 
from the servile insurrection of San Domingo, and the living, 
glowing, horrid colors in which they painted those scenes to me, 
haunt my memory to this day. Read the accounts of the alarm 
produced in Richmond many, many years ago by the meditated 
insurrection by the slave Gabriel; trace the limited, but bloody 
and frightful course of the more recent servile revolt in South- 
ampton. But a few days since, when England seemed to choose 
this time of our division and civil war to pick a quarrel with us, 
both the mother country and Canada sent out a rally cry to the 
fugitive slaves in her provinces to form themselves into companies 
and regiments to take part in a war against this country, in invad- 
ing the United States, and, no doubt, particularly the slave States. 
When they come as invaders, with arms in their hands, and ad- 
dress to their kindred and their race, who are enslaved by us, 
words of passion and hate and vengeance, and put arms into their 
hands, it will be like letting the young tiger taste of blood. When 
he gets the taste, his savage fury will soon know no bounds, and 
he will glut every infernal passion. 



EMANCIPATION OR CONFISCATION. 59 

Sir, I am acquainted with the negro race. I have heen horn in 
the same family with them. I have grown up with them. I have 
playedwith them. They have shared with me my joys and my 
sorrows. I have shared with them theirs. I own slaves now. 
Next to my wife and my children, I would defend my slaves, and 
would guard them from every wrong; and that is the universal 
sentiment of the slaveholders in my State. I wish you would 
come among us and see the institution there. My slaves are not 
for sale. There is no money that would buy my faithful and con- 
tented slaves; and they are all so, so far as I know. I have not 
seen a slave chastised for twenty years; and it is a rare occurrence 
that you hear of it in my State. They are clothed well, they are 
fed well, they are housed well, they have every attention of the 
most skillful physicians that the members of the white family 
have. Yes, and in the midst of cholera and pestilence and death, 
their owners stand by them and share the malaria and the infec- 
tion with them. I have seen it done again and again. If it was 
not egotism, I would say that I have performed that part myself, 
without any regard to consequences or the peril of my life, and I 
would do it forever. 

The perpetual agitation of the slave question is what has brought 
on this rebellion. I admit that slavery has been one of the causes; 
a remote cause, but a pretty powerful one. The cotton States, by 
their slave labor, have become wealthy, and many of their planters 
have princely revenues — from $50,000 to $100,000 a year. This 
wealth has begot pride and insolence and ambition, and these points 
of the Southern character have been displayed most insultingly in 
the halls of Congress. I admit it all. But in these Southern States, 
and among these planters, are some of the truest gentlemen, in the 
highest sense of the word, that I have ever known, and some of 
the purest patriots. I admit, however, that, as a class, the wealthy 
cotton-growers are insolent; they are proud; they are domineer- 
ing; they are ambitious. They have monopolized the Government 
in its honors for forty or fifty years, with few interruptions. When 
they saw the scepter about to depart from them in the election of 
Lincoln, sooner than give up office, and the spoils of office, in their 
mad and wicked ambition they determined to disrupt the old Con- 
federation and io erect a new one, where they would have undis- 
puted power. I am for meeting them in that unholy purpose of 
theirs. I want them met in battle array. Whenever they send an 
army in the field, I want that army met and overthrown. 



(JO THE -WAR: NOT FOR 

They had some reason to complain of a few old women and 
fanatical preachers and madmen in the Northern States, who were 
always agitating this question ; hut nine out of ten of the North- 
ern people were sound upon the subject. They were opposed to 
the extension of slavery, and I do not condemn them for that ; but 
they were willing to accord to the slaveholder and to the slave 
States all their constitutional rights. 

I think that the last Congress made a great mistake in not 
accepting Mr. Crittenden's compromise. It would have left the 
cotton States without a pretext by which they could have deluded 
and misled the masses of the people. The last letter that Old 
Hickory wrote — and there is a gentleman now in this body who 
has it in his possession — said that the tariff was only a pretext for 
the disturbance in the form of nullification in 1832- , 33; that they 
meditated treason and a separate Southern empire or confedera- 
tion ; that they only seized that as the pretext for making their 
outbreak, and that they would next seize upon the slave question 
as another pretext. They have done so. 

Mr. President, both sides have sinned, North and South, the 
extreme men. I could live by these gentlemen who surround me 
as neighbors, holding my slaves, and they opposed to the institu- 
tion. I would do it in the most perfect security, and they would 
do it without infringing on any of my rights. I know they would ; 
but it is not so with the extreme men ; I am afraid it is not so 
with the gentleman from Massachusetts, to whom I have been 
addressing some of my remarks. I would fain hope it was so, 
and I shall rejoice to find that I am mistaken. But what say some 
of these extreme Northern men about slavery and about the 
Constitution ? Here is what one says : 

"The Constitution is a covenant with death and an agreement with hell." — The 
Liberator. 
" No union with slaveholders."— Ibid. 

There is proscription, without condition, inexorable and forever. 
" No union with slaveholders." It is that fanatical sentiment that 
has brought many of them to curse and to execrate the memory 
of Washington, as well as of the Constitution. Here is what an- 
other of them has said: 

"The anti-slavery party had hoped for and planned disunion because it would 
lead to the development of mankind and the elevation of the black man."— Wen- 
dell J'hillips. 

Phillips gives his sympathies, as the gentleman from Indiana 
gives his, to the Southern confederation, and he says "the South 



EMANCIPATION OR CONFISCATION. (;j 

deserved to succeed because she had exhibited better statesmanship 
and more capacity for control." The Abolitionists subscribe to u 
memorial to Congress that contains this prayer : 

" That amid the varied events which are constantly occurring, and which will 
more and more occur during the momentous struggle in which we are engaged, 
such measures may be adopted as will insure emancipation." 

That is the great end and object for which many of these fanatics 
contend; it is not the re-establishment of the Constitution. I 
want the Constitution re-established as AYashington made it. In 
attempting to put down this rebellion and to prevent a revolution, 
I do not want Congress itself to inaugurate and consummate a 
revolution. No, Mr. President, let Congress do its duty in this 
war faithfully, fearlessly. The people are doing theirs ; they have 
come up to the rescue of the imperiled capital and Government as 
no people ever came up before. Yea, from the east to the west, 
especially in the free States, they are as one man. Kentucky has 
been invaded. The Confederate government has avowed that it 
will have Kentucky and Maryland and Missouri. They proclaimed, 
when they invaded Kentucky, that Kentucky was necessary to tho 
Southern confederation, and they would have it at the cost of 
blood and of conquest. I am for meeting them, not only with 
sword, but with sword and shield, and I am for fighting them to 
extermination until we beat them back, having profaned so out- 
rageously our soil. Our brothers of the northwestern States, and 
of the extreme northwestern States, have come to our rescue with 
a generosity and a devotion and a brotherhood that fill us with 
admiration and gratitude. Never, oh ! never were there more 
welcome visitants to any country. They have seen us ; they have 
seen our institutions; we have seen them; we have become better 
acquainted with each other, and we have learned to esteem each 
other more truthfully and correctly. They are beginning to marry 
our daughters, and we will seud our sons to marry their daughters, 
and let us establish a union of hearts and a union of hands that 
will last forever. 

Why, Mr. President, Kentucky has almost peopled the north- 
western States, especially Indiana and Illinois. I have no doubt 
that one fourth of the people of Indiana are cither native-born 
Kentuckians or the sons and daughters of native-born Kentuckians. 
They are bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. "When you offer 
to the Union men of Kentucky the choice, whether they will 
remain united forever with Indiana and Ohio and Illinois, or go 
with Georgia and South Carolina and Florida, they will answer, 



fi2 THE WAR: NOT FOR 

" A thousand fold will wo be united rather with the Northwest than 
with those distant States. 

They have proved their truth to the Union ; they have proved 
their sympathy and their kindred to us. When they were young, 
Kentucky sent forth its chivalry, and shed its blood in their de- 
fense. In llarmer's and St. Clair's campaigns the unbroken wil- 
derness was made red with the best blood of Kentucky. At Tippe- 
canoe, in 1811, Indiana received from Kentucky the same oblation. 
In the war of 1812, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan all had Kentucky 
blood poured out as water to drive the savage foe, both British and 
Indian, from their borders; and never, never was there a call upon 
Kentucky, that her true and brave sons did not go to the defense 
of their common country in these sister States. We felt that these 
States owed us something ; but oh ! how nobly and truthfully and 
fully are they paying the debt. I have seen mothers and daughters, 
fathers and sons — the whole population assembled all through my 
portion of Kentucky to meet and to greet these coming hosts from 
Ohio and Indiana, to protect their Government, and to protect 
that State which had protected them in bygone days. And oh ! 
what meetings they were, what an outpouring of the heart and of 
all its truest and best sympathies ! I have been in their camps, I 
have mingled with their officers, I have conversed with their sol- 
diers, I have addressed their regiments; they have elected me 
honorary member of their regiments. I know your Cills and your 
Kortous, your Harrises, your Heckers, foreigners and natives, who 
are commanders of these regiments. I know that they have as 
nine to one expressed to me that their purpose, and their only 
purpose in waging this war, was the restoration of the Union and 
the vindication of the Government, and not to war upon slavery. 
Thus writes one of them from the camp at Glenn's Fork, Pulaski 
County, and no doubt this gallant sou of Indiana was in the late 
hard-fought battle there. 

" As an Indinnian, and a member of Hie army of the Union, I can not fail to 
express my satisfaction at the just and conservative course of the Louisville ,/our- 
iui/ on the slavery question. Indiana is not fighting for the emancipation of the 
slaves, but for the restoration of law and order. When that shall have been 
accomplished, our mission is ended. 

"Out of the officers and soldiers of the Tenth Indiana, I do not know of one 
Abolitionist. If Congress would legislate for the benefit of ivhite men, and let the 
negro alone, it would be better." 

And oh! how much better it would be! That is the instinct of 
truth and patriotism, of mind and heart ; and that utterance nine 
tenths of the soldiery of the Northwest speak and will speak for- 



EMANCIPATION OH CONFISCATION. (53 

ever. If, sir, you had proposed your measure before this grand 
and all-conquering army had been collected together, and told them 
it was to be a war upon slavery, you would never have had one 
fourth of the host in the field that you have. When a party wins 
power, the best way to preserve it is to use it in moderation, and 
especially within the Constitution. Fanaticism and passion and 
excitement never did and never will wisely legislate for or govern 
any country. Senators, you are supposed to act, not from passion 
and a desire of vengeance and to punish, but from reason and 
patriotism, and right and truth, and eternal justice. If you act 
upon the'se principles, and allay the swelling passions as they rise 
in your bosoms, I am not afraid to trust you. 

But, Mr. President, these fanatics, these political and social 
demons — your Greeleys, your Oheevers, your Phillipses, and your 
Garrisons — that come here, like spirits from the infernal regions, 
to bring another pandemonium into our councils, to violate the 
Constitution, to walk to the destruction of slavery over all its 
broken fragments, and to oppose Lincoln, as honest and as pure a 
man as lives, because he does not go with them in their extreme 
opposition to slavery — what ought to be done with them? The 
utterances which I have read to you they have dared to give in 
this city. They have desecrated the Smithsonian Institution to the 
utterance of such sentiments. If secessionists or those who sym- 
pathize with them had made the same utterances, they would have 
been sent, and properly sent, to Fort Lafayette or to Fort "Warren. 
What should you do with these monsters? I will tell you what I 
would do with them ; that horrid monster, Greeley, and those other 
monsters, who are howling over this city like famished wolves after 
slavery — that slavery which was established by the Constitution 
and by Washington. What should be done with them? If I had 
the power, I would take them with the worst "secesh," and I 
would hang them in pairs. [Sensation.] I wish before God that 
I could inflict that punishment upon them. It would not be too 
severe. They are the agitators; they are disunionists; they are 
the madmen who are willing to call up all the infernal passions and 
all the horrors of servile war, and to disregard utterly the Consti- 
tution, and march triumphantly over its broken, disjected frag- 
ments to attain their unholy purposes, and I am too fearful that 
the honorable gentleman from Massachusetts sympathizes with 
them. 

Mr. President, I most humbly ask the pardon of the Senate for 



(34 THE WAR: NOT FOR EMANCIPATION OR CONFISCATION. 

this desultory, lengthy, and discursive discourse. I trust I have 
-wounded the feelings of no gentleman. It was not my purpose to 
do so ; it was far from my purpose. I want the Union restored. 
If it is to be restored, it is by the instrumentality of the President 
of the United States. In his integrity and patriotism and truth I 
place implicit confidence. He is a moderate man in his principles. 
He is a just man. He is a wise man. If he were left to his own 
counsels, to the suggestions of his own reason, to the impulses of 
his own heart, if he had a little more of the stern and iron element 
of a Clay or an " Old Hickory," and would act out his own will, 
and repress the men whose pestilent counsels distract him and 
neutralize his efforts to bring this war to a speedy and to a tri- 
umphant close, I think that he would act his part more nobly and 
with more success. So far as I am concerned, he has my confi- 
dence and my respect. I can clothe him with no power by my 
vote to carry on this war vigorously and successfully, within the 
Constitution, that I will withhold from him. I want the aid of 
Black Republicans and Republicans and Democrats and all, in this 
holy work. I care not what laurels and honors and hopes of 
future emolument and office any man may win. 

I admired, beyond measure almost, the dead hero Lyon. In my 
judgment, he showed himself more of a warrior than any man 
who has yet exhibited himself in the field during this struggle. 
The moment that he detected the purposes of Camp Jackson at 
St. Louis, he moved upon it and captured it and all of its hosts. 
When the traitor Jackson, the disloyal governor of Missouri, issued 
his treasonable proclamation, and fled toward Booneville, the 
active, the dauntless, and the military Lyon was after him with his 
army, and overtook and dispersed his hosts to the wind. He and 
Sigel, a foreigner, but a warrior, himself a man of military educa- 
tion, a genius naturally, met the foe at Carthage, and fought a 
small battle, but one of the most perfect battles, in my judgment, 
of which history gives any record. Then the enemy returned in 
a vast host to Springfield. With an interior army, Lyon and Sigel 
met them again. Two regiments were at Rolla that ought to have 
been sent to reinforce them, but they were not sent; if they had 
been, our arms might have won the day. Lyon, to save the cause 
of his country and of Missouri, made the battle. He rushed into 
the thickest of the fight, and he fell a voluntary martyr to his 
country's cause, and then Sigel made one of the most masterly re- 
treats that I have read of. I wish that that dead hero was now 



AFRICAN SLAVERY. (55 

alive, again to marshal our armies to victory and to help to deliver 
the country from its imperiled condition. Mr. President, let any 
warrior come "who has capacity to bring it, to a close or to con- 
tribute materially to its success, I care not what his politics, I give 
him my faith, my support, my admiration, my gratitude, and so 
will my State, or the Union portion of it. "We want the assistance 
of everybody, of every Union man to bring this war to a close, 
and we trusted, before I left home, and I still trust, that these dis- 
cordant questions, these measures which must divide us, will be 
left unattempted, at least until the war has crushed out the most 
wicked and infamous rebellion that ever was made in the tide of 
time. 



AFRICAN SLAVERY, 

THE CORNER-STONE OF THE SOUTHERN 
CONFEDERACY. 



A Speech by Hon. Alexander II. Stephens, Vice- President of the Confederate 
States of America, delivered at the Alheneum, Savannah, March 22, 1861. 

The Mayor, who presided, introduced the speaker with a few pertinent remarks, 
and Mr. Stephens was greeted with deafening rounds of applause, after which he 
spoke as follows: 

Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen of tile Committee, and Fellow- 
Citizens — For this reception, you will please accept my most pro- 
found and sincere thanks. The compliment is doubtless intended 
as much, or more perhaps, in honor of the occasion, and my pub- 
lic position in connection with the great events now crowding 
upon us, than to me personally and individually. It is, however, 
none the less appreciated on that account. We are in the midst 
of one of the greatest epochs in our history. The last ninety days 
will mark one of the most memorable eras in the history of modern 
civilization. 

[There was a general call from the outside of the building for the speaker to go 
out; that there were more outside than in. The Mayor rose and requested silence 
at the doors; said Mr. Stephens's health would not permit him to speak in the 



QQ AFRICAN SLAVERY: THE CORNEE-STONE 

open air. Mr. Stephens said he would leave it to the audience whether lie should 
proceed indoors or out. There was a general ery indoors, as the ladies — a large 
number of whom were present- could not hear outside. Mr. Stephens said that 
the accommodation of the ladies would determine the question, and he would pro- 
ceed where he was. At this point the uproar and clamoroutside were^reater still 
for the speaker to go out on the steps. This was quieted by Col. Lawton, < 'ol. i- ore- 
man, Judge J;ickson, and Mr. J. W. Owens, going out and stating tlie facts of the 
case to the dense mass of men, women, and children who were outside, and 
entertaining them in short, brief speeches, Mr. Stephens a!l this time quietly sitting 
down until the furor subsided.] 

Mr. Stephens rose and said — When perfect quiet is restored I 
shall proceed. I can not speak as long as there is any noise or 
confusion. I shall take my time. I feel as though I could spend 
the night with you, if necessary. [Loud applause.] I very much 
regret that every one who desires can not hear what I have to 
say, not that I have any display to make, or anything very enter- 
taining to present; but such views as I have to give I wish all, 
not only in this city, but in this State, and throughout our Con- 
federated Republic, could hear, who have a desire to hear them. 

I was remarking that we were passing through one of the 
greatest revolutions in the annals of the world. Seven States 
have, within the last three months, thrown off an old government, 
and formed a new. This revolution has been signally marked, up 
to this time, by the fact of its having been accomplished without 
the loss of a single drop of blood. [Applause.] This new con- 
stitution, or form of government, constitutes the subject to which 
your attention will be partly invited. 

In reference to it, I make this first general remark: It amply 
secures all our ancient rights, franchises, and privileges. All the 
great principles of Magna Charta are retained in it. No citizen is 
deprived of life, liberty, or property but by the judgment of his 
peers, under the laws of the laud. The great principle of religious 
liberty, which was the honor and pride of the old Constitution, is 
still maintained and secured. All the essentials of the old Con- 
stitution, which have endeared it to the hearts of the American 
people, have been preserved and perpetuated. [Applause.] Some 
changes have been made ; of these I shall speak presently. Some 
of these I should have preferred not to have been made, but these 
perhaps meet the cordial approbation of a majority of this 
audience, if not an overwhelming majority of the people of the 
Confederacy. Of them, therefore, I will not speak. But other 
important changes do meet my cordial approbation. They form 
great improvements on the old Constitution. So, taking the whole 
new Constitution, I have no hesitancy in giving it as my judgment 
that it is decidedly better than the old. [Applause.] Allow me 






OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY. (57 

briefly to allude to some of these improvements. The question 
of building up class interests, or fostering one branch of industry 
to the prejudice of another, under the exercise of the revenue 
power, which gave us so much trouble under the old Constitution, 
is put at rest, forever under the new. We allow the imposition 
of no duty with a view of giving advantages to one class of per- 
sons, in any trade or business, over those of another. All, under 
our system, stand upon the same broad principles of perfect 
equality. Honest labor and enterprise are left free and unre- 
stricted in whatever pursuit they may be engaged. This subject 
came well nigh causing a rupture of the old Union, under the lead 
of the gallant Palmetto State, which lies on our border, in 1833. 

This old thorn of the tariff, which occasioned the cause of so 
much irritation in the old body politic, is removed forever from 
the new. [Applause.] Again, the subject of internal improve- 
ments, under the power of Congress to regulate commerce, is put 
at rest under our system. The power claimed by construction 
under the old Constitution was, at least, a doubtful one — it rested 
solely upon construction. AVe, of the South, generally apart from 
considerations of constitutional principles, opposed its exercise 
upon grounds of expediency and justice. Notwithstanding this 
opposition, millions of money in the common Treasury had been 
drawn for such purposes. Our opposition sprung from no hostility 
to commerce, or all necessary aids for facilitating it. With us it 
was simply a question upon lelwm the burden should fall. In 
Georgia, for instance, we had done as much for the cause of in- 
ternal improvements as any other portion of the country, accord- 
ing to population and means. We have stretched out lines of 
railroads from the seaboard to the mountains; dug down the hills 
and filled up the valleys at a cost of not less than $25,000,000. 
All this was done to open up an outlet for our products of the in- 
terior, and those to the west of us, to reach the marts of the 
world. No State was in greater need of such facilities than 
Georgia, but we had not asked that these works should be made 
by appropriations out of the common Treasury. The cost of the 
grading, the superstructure, and equipments of our roads was 
borne by those who entered upon the enterprise. Nay, more, not 
only the cost of the iron, no small item in the aggregate cost, was 
borne in the same way, but w r e were compelled to pav into the 
common Treasury several millions of dollars for the privilege of 
importing the iron after the price was paid for it abroad. What 



03 AVP\CA.T3 SLAVERY: THE CORNER-STONE 

justice was there in taking this money, which our people paid 
into the common Treasury on the importation of our iron, 
and applying it to the improvement of rivers and harbors else- 
where ? 

The true principle is, to subject commerce of every locality to 
whatever burdens may be necessary to facilitate it. If Charleston 
harbor needs improvement, let the commerce of Charleston bear 
the burden. If the mouth of the Savannah River has to be cleared 
out, let the sea-going navigation which is benefited by it bear the 
burden. So with the mouths of the Alabama and Mississippi riv- 
ers. Just as the products of the interior, our cotton, wheat, corn, 
and other articles have to bear the necessary rates of freight over 
our railroads to reach the seas. This is again the broad principle 
of perfect equality and justice. [Applause.] And it is specially 
held forth and established in our new Constitution. 

Another feature to which I will allude is, that the new Consti- 
tution provides that cabinet ministers and heads of departments 
shall have the privilege of seats upon the floor of the Senate and 
House of Representatives — shall have the right to participate in the 
debates and discussions upon the various subjects of administra- 
tion. I should have preferred that this provision should have gone 
further, and allowed the President to select his constitutional ad- 
visers from the Senate and House of Representatives. That would 
have conformed entirely to the practice in the British Parliament, 
which, in my judgment, is one of the wisest provisions in the Brit- 
ish Parliament. It is the only feature that saves that government. 
It is that which gives it stability in its facility to change its ad- 
ministration. Ours, as it is, is a great approximation to the right, 
principle. 

Under the old Constitution a secretary of the Treasury, for in- 
stance, had no opportunity, save by his annual reports, of present- 
ing any scheme or plan of finance or other matter. He had no 
opportunity of explaining, expounding, enforcing, or defending his 
views of policy ; his only resort was through the medium of an 
organ. In the British Parliament the premier brings in his budget, 
and stands before the nation responsible for its every item. If it is 
indefensible, he falls before the attacks upon it, as he ought to. 
This will now be the case to a limited extent under our system. 
Our heads of departments can speak for themselves and the ad- 
ministration, in behalf of its entire policy, without resorting to 
the indirect and highly objectionable medium of a newspaper. It 



OF TIIE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY. GO 

is to be greatly hoped that under our system we shall never have 
what is known as a government organ. [Rapturous applause.] 

[A noise again arose from the clamor of the crowd outside, who 
wished to hear Mr. Stephens, and for some moments interrupted 
him. The Mayor rose and called on the police to preserve order. 
Quiet being restored, Mr. S. proceeded.] 

Another change in the Constitution relates to the length of the 
tenure of the Presidential office. In the new Constitution it is six 
years instead of four, and the President rendered ineligible for re- 
election. This is certainly a decidedly conservative change. It will 
remove from the incumbent all temptation to use his office or exert 
the powers confided to him for any objects of personal ambition. 
The only incentive to that higher ambition which should move 
and actuate one holding such high trusts in his hands will be the 
good of the people, the advancement, prosperity, happiness, safety, 
honor, and true glory of the Confederacy. [Applause.] 

But not to be tedious in enumerating the numerous changes for 
the better, allow me to allude to one other— though last, not 
least : The new Constitution has put at rest, forever, all agitating 
questions relating to our peculiar institution— African slavery as it 
exists among us— the proper status of the negro in our form of civ- 
ilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and 
present revolution. Jefferson, in his forecast, had anticipated this, 
as the "rock upon which the old Union would split." He was 
right. What was conjecture with him is now a realized fact. But 
whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that 
rock stood and stands, may be doubted. The prevailing ideas en- 
tertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of 
the formation of the old Constitution were, that the enslavement 
of the African was in violation of the laws of nature ; that it was 
wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. It was an 
evil they knew not well how to deal with, but the general opinion 
of the men of that day was that, somehow or other, in the order 
of Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away. 
This idea, though not incorporated in the Constitution, was the 
prevailing idea at the time. The Constitution, it is true, secured 
every essential guaranty to the institution while it should last, and 
hence no argument can be justly used against the constitutional 
guaranties thus secured, because of the common sentiment ot the 
day. Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They 
rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an 



70 AFRICAN SLAVERY: THE CORNER-STONE 

error. It was a sandy foundation, and the idea of a government 
built upon it; when the "storm came and the wind blew, it 
fell." 

Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; 
its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests upon the great truth 
that the negro is not equal to the white man. That slavery — 
subordination to the superior race — is his natural and moral con- 
dition. [Applause.] 

This, our new government, is the first in the history of the 
world based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral 
truth. This truth has been slow in the process of its develop- 
ment, like all other truths in the various departments of science. 
It has been so even among us. Many who hear me, perhaps, can 
recollect well that this truth was not generally admitted even 
within their day. The errors of the past generation still clung to 
many as late as twenty years ago. Those at the North who still 
cling to these errors, with a zeal above knowledge, we justly de- 
nominate fanatics. All fanaticism springs from an aberration of 
the mind — from a defect in reasoning. It is a species of insanity. 
One of the most striking characteristics of insanity, in many in- 
stances, is forming correct conclusions from fancied or erroneous 
premises ; so with the anti-slavery fanatics ; their conclusions are 
right, if their premises are. They assume that the negro is equal, 
and hence conclude that he is entitled to equal privileges and rights 
with the white man. If their premise were correct, their conclu- 
sion would be logical and just ; but their premise being wrong, 
their whole argument fads. I recollect once of having heard a 
gentleman from one of the Northern States, of great power and 
ability, announce in the House of Eepresentatives, with imposing 
effect, that we of the South would be compelled, ultimately, to 
yield upon this subject of slavery ; that it was as impossible to war 
successfully against a principle in politics, as it was in physics or 
mechanics. That the principle would ultimately prevail. That 
we, in maintaining slavery as it exists with us, were warring against 
a principle, a principle founded in nature, the principle of the equal- 
ity of man. The reply I made to him was, that upon his own 
grounds we should succeed, and that he and his associates in their 
crusades against our institutions, would ultimately fail. The truth 
announced that it was as impossible to war successfully against a 
principle in politics as in physics and mechanics, I admitted, but 
told him that it was he and those acting with him who wero war- 



OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY. 7 J 

ring against a principle. They were attempting to make things 
equal which the Creator had made unequal. 

In the conflict thus far, success has been on our side, complete 
throughout the length and breadth of the Confederate States. It is 
upon this, as I have stated, our social fabric is firmly planted, and I 
can not permit myself to doubt the ultimate success of a full recogni- 
tion of this principle throughout the civilized and enlightened world. 

As I have stated, the truth of this principle may be slow in de- 
velopment, as all truths are, and ever have been, in the various 
branches of science. It was so with the principles announced by 
Galileo ; it was so with Adam Smith and his principles of political 
economy. It was so with Harvey and his theory of the circulation 
of the blood. It is stated that not a single one of the medical pro- 
fession, living at the time of the announcement of the truths made 
by him, admitted them. Now, they are universally acknowledged. 
May we not, therefore, look with confidence to the ultimate uni- 
versal acknowledgment of the truths upon which our system rests? 
It is the first government ever instituted upon principles in strict 
conformity to nature, and the ordination of Providence, in furnish- 
ing the materials of human society. Many governments have been 
founded upon the principle of the enslavement of certain classes; 
but the classes thus enslaved were of the same race and in violation 
of the laws of nature. Oar system commits no such violation of 
nature's laws. The negro by nature, or by the curse against Ca- 
naan, is fitted for that condition which he occupies in our system. 
The architect, in the construction of buildings, lays the foundation 
with proper materials — the granite — then comes the brick or the 
marble. The substratum of our society is made of the material 
fitted by nature for it, and by experience Ave know that it is best 
not only for the superior, but for the inferior race that it should be 
so. It is, indeed, in conformity with the ordinance of the Creator. 
It is not for us to inquire into the wisdom of His ordinances or to 
question them. For His own purposes He has made one race to 
differ from another, as He has made " one star to differ from an- 
other in glory." 

The great objects of humanity are best attained, when con- 
formed to His laws and decrees, in the formation of governments 
as well as in all things else. Our Confederacy is founded upon 
principles in strict conformity with these laws. This stone which 
was rejected by the first builders, " is become the chief stone of the 
corner" in our new edifice. [Applause.] 



70 AFRICAN SLAVERY: THE CORNER-STONE 

I have been asked, what of the future? It lias been appre- 
hended by some that we would have arrayed against us the civil- 
ized world. I care not who or how many they may be, when we 
stand upon the eternal principles of truth we are obliged and must 
triumph. [Immense applause.] 

Thousands of people who begin to understand these truths are 
not yet completely out of the shell. They do not see them in their 
length and breadth. We hear much of the civilization and Chris- 
tianization of the barbarous tribes of Africa. In my judgment, 
those ends will never be attained, but by first teaching them the 
lesson taught to Adam, that " in the sweat of thy brow shalt thou 
eat bread" [applause], and teaching them to work, and feed, and 
clothe themselves. But to pass on: some have propounded the 
inquiry, whether it is practicable for us to go on with the Con- 
federacy without further accessions? Have we the means and 
ability to maintain nationality among the powers of the earth ? 
On this point I would barely say, that as anxiously as we all have 
been and are for the Border States, with institutions similar with 
ours, to join us, still we are abundantly able to maintain our posi- 
tion, even if they should ultimately make up their minds not to 
cast their 'destiny with ours. That they ultimately will join us — 
be compelled to do it — is my confident belief, but we can get on 
very well without them, even if they should not. 

We have all the essential elements of a high national career. 
The idea lias been given out at the North, and even in the Border 
States, that we are too small and too weak to maintain a separate 
nationality. This is a great mistake. In extent of territory we 
embrace 564,000 square miles and upward. This is upward of 
200,000 square miles more than was included within the limits of 
the original thirteen States. It is an area of country more than 
double the territory of France or the Austrian Empire. France, 
in round numbers, has but 212,000 square miles. Austria, in 
round numbers, has 248,000 square miles. Ours is greater than 
both combined. It is greater than all France, Spain, Portugal, and 
Great Britain, including England, Ireland, and Scotland together. 
In population we have upward of eight millions, according to the 
census of 18G0 ; this includes white and black. The entire popu- 
lation, including white and black, of the original thirteen States, 
was less than 4.000,000 in 1790, and still less in '7G, when the in- 
dependence of our fathers was achieved. If they, with a less popu- 
lation, dared maintain their independence against the greatest 



OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY 73 

power on earth, shall we have any apprehension of maintaining 
ours now ? 

In point of material wealth and resources we are greatly in 
advance of them. The taxable property of the Confederate States 
can not be less than $22,000,000,000. This, I think, I venture but 
little in saying, may be considered as five times more than the 
colonies possessed at the time they achieved their independence. 
Georgia alone possessed last year, according to the report of our 
Controller- General, $072,000,000 of taxable property. The debts 
of the seven Confederate States sum up, in the aggregate, less than 
$18,000,000; while the existing debts of the other of the late 
United States sum up, in the aggregate, the enormous amount of 
$174,000,000. This is without taking into the account the heavy 
city debts, corporation debts, and railroad debts, which press, and 
will continue to press, a heavy incubus upon the resources of those 
States. These debts, added to others, make a sum total not much 
under $500,000,000. With such an area of territory — with such 
an amount of population — with a climate and soil unsurpassed by 
any on the face of the earth — with such resources already at our 
command — with productions which control the commerce of. the 
world, who can entertain any apprehensions as to our success, 
whether others join us or not? 

It is true, I believe, I state but the common sentiment, when I 
declare my earnest desire that the Border States should join us. 
The differences of opinion that existed among us anterior to seces- 
sion related more to the policy in securing that result by co- 
operation than from any difference upon the ultimate security we 
all looked to in common. 

These differences of opinion were more in reference to policy 
than principle, and as Mr. Jefferson said in his inaugural, in 1801, 
after the heated contest preceding his election, there might be dif- 
ferences in opinion without differences in principle, and that all, 
to some extent, had been Federalists and all Republicans; so it 
may now be said of us, that whatever differences of opinion as to 
the best policy in having a co-operation with our border sister 
Slave States, if the worst come to the worst, that as we were all 
co : operationists, we are now all for independence, whether they 
come or not. [Continued applause.] 

In this connection I take this occasion to state that I was not 
without grave and serious apprehension, that if the worst came to 
the worst, and cutting loose from the old government would be 



7j AFRICAN SLAVERY: TIIE CORNER-STONE 

the only remedy for our safety and security, it would be attended 
with much more serious ills than it has been as yet. Thus far we 
have seen none of those incidents which usually attend revolutions. 
No such material as such convulsions usually throw up has been 
seen. Wisdom, prudence, and patriotism have marked every step 
of our progress thus far. This augurs well for the future, and it is 
a matter of sincere gratification to me, that I am enabled to make 
the declaration of the men I met in the Congress at Montgomery 
(I may be pardoned for saying this), an abler, wiser — a more con- 
servative, deliberate, determined, resolute, and patriotic body of 
men I never met in my life. [Great applause.] Their works speak 
for them ; the Provisional Government speaks for them ; the Con- 
stitution of the permanent Government will be a lasting monu- 
ment of their worth, merit, and statesmanship. [Applause.] 

But to return to the question of the future. "What is to be the 
result of this revolution? 

Will everything, commenced so well, continue as it has begun ? 
In reply to this anxious inquiry, I can only say it all depends upon 
ourselves. A young man starting out in life on his majority, with 
health, talent, and ability, under a favoring Providence, may be 
said to be the architect of his own fortunes. His destinies are in 
his own hands. He may make for himself a name of honor or dis- 
honor, according to his own acts. If he plants himself upon truth, 
integrity, honor, and uprightness, with industry, patience, and 
energy, he can not fail of success. So it is with us ; we are a 
young Republic, just entering upon the arena of nations; we will 
be the architect of our own fortunes. Our destiny, under Provi- 
dence, is in our own hands. With wisdom, prudence, and states- 
manship on the part of our public men, and intelligence, virtue, 
and patriotism on the part of the people, success, to the full mea- 
sures of our most sanguine hopes, may be looked for. But if we 
become divided — if schisms arise — if dissensions spring up — if 
factions are engendered — if party spirit, nourished by unholy per- 
sonal ambition, shall rear its hydra head, I have no good to proph- 
esy for you. Without intelligence, virtue, integrity, and patriot- 
ism on the part of the people, no republic or representative 
government can be durable or stable. 

We have intelligence, and virtue, and patriotism. All that is 
required is to cultivate and perpetuate these. Intelligence will not 
do without virtue. France was a nation of philosophers. These 
philosophers became Jacobins. They lacked that virtue, that de- 



OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY. 75 

votion to moral principle, and that patriotism which is essential to 
good government. Organized upon principles of perfect justice 
and right — seeking amity and friendship with all other powers — I 
see no obstacle in the way of our upward and onward progress. 
Our growth, by accessions from other States, will depend greatly 
upon whether we present to the world, as I trust we shall, a bet- 
ter government than that to which they belong. If we do this, 
North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas can not hesitate long; 
neither can A r irginia, Kentucky, and Missouri. They will neces- 
sarily gravitate to us by an imperious law. We made ample pro- 
vision in our Constitution for the admission of other States; it is 
more guarded, and wisely so, I think, than the old Constitution on 
the same subject, but not too guarded to receive them as fast as it 
may be proper. Looking to the distant future, and, perhaps, not 
very distant either, it is not beyond the range of possibility, and 
even probability, that all the great States of the Northwest shall 
gravitate this way as well as Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Ar- 
kansas, etc. Should they do so, our doors are wide enough to re- 
ceive them, but not until they are ready to assimilate with us in 
principle. 

The process of disintegration in the old Union may be expected 
to go on with almost absolute certainty. AVe are now the nucleu3 
of a growing power, which, if we are true to ourselves, our des- 
tiny, and high mission, will become the controlling power on this 
continent. To what extent accession will go on in the process of 
time, or where it will end, the future will determine. So far as it 
concerns States of the old Union, they will be upon no such prin- 
ciple of reconstruction as now spoken of, but upon reorganization 
and new assimilation. | Loud applause.] Such are some of the 
glimpses of the future as I catch them. 

But at first we must necessarily meet with the inconveniences, 
and difficulties, and embarrassments incident to all changes of 
government. These will be felt in our postal affairs and changes 
in the channel of trade. These inconveniences, it is to be hoped, 
will be but temporary, and must be borne with patience and for- 
bearance. 

As to whether we shall have war with our late confederates, or 
whether all matters of differences between us shall be amicably 
settled, I can only say that the prospect for a peaceful adjustment 
is better, so far as I am informed, than it has been. 

The prospect of war is at least not so threatening as it has been. 



7(3 AFRICAN SLAVERY: TIIE CORNER-STONE 

The idea of coercion shadowed forth in President Lincoln's In- 
augural seems not to be followed up thus far so vigorously as was 
expected. Fort Sumter, it is believed, will soon be evacuated. 
What course will be pursued toward Fort Pickens and the other 
forts on the Gulf, is not so well understood. It is to be greatly 
desired that all of them should be surrendered. Our object is 
Peace, not only with the North, but with the world. All matters 
relating to the public property, public liabilities of the Union 
when we were members of it, we are ready and willing to adjust 
and settle, upon the principles of right, equality and good faith. 
"War can be of no more benefit to the North than to us. The idea 
of coercing us, or subjugating us, is utterly preposterous. "Whether 
the intention of evacuating Fort Sumter is to be received as an 
evidence of a desire for a peaceful solution of our difficulties with 
the United States, or the result of necessity, I will not undertake 
to say. I would fain hope the former. Rumors are afloat, 
however, that it is the result of necessity. All I can say to you, 
therefore, on that point is, keep your armor bright and your 
powder dry. [Enthusiastic applause.] 

The surest way to secure peace is to show your ability to main- 
tain your rights. The principles and position of the present 
Administration of the United States — the Republican party — 
present some puzzling questions. While it is a fixed principle with 
t them never to allow the increase of a foot of slave territory, they 
seem tu be equally determined not to part with an inch " of the 
accursed soil." Notwithstanding their clamor against the institu- 
tion, they seem to be equally opposed to getting more, or letting 
go what they have got. They were ready to fight on the accession 
of Texas, and are equally ready to fight now on her secession. 
Why is this? How can this strange paradox be accounted for? 
There seems to be but one rational solution, and that is, notwith- 
standing their professions of humanity, they are disinclined to give 
up the benefits they derive from slave labor. Their philanthropy 
yields to their interest. The idea of enforcing the laws has but 
one object, and that is a collection of the taxes raised by slave 
labor to swell the fund necessary to meet their heavy appropria- 
tions. The spoils is what they are after, though they come from 
the labor of the slave. [Continued applause.] 

Mr. Stephens reviewed at some length the extravagance and 
profligacy of appropriations by the Congress of the United States 
for several years past, and in this connection took occasion to 



OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY. 77 

allude to another one of the great improvements in our new Con- 
stitution, which is a clause prohibiting Congress from appropriat- 
ing any money from the Treasury except by a two-thirds vote, 
unless it be for some object which the Executive may say is neces- 
sary to carry on the Government. 

When it is thus asked for and estimated, he continued, the ma- 
jority may appropriate. This was a new feature. 

Our fathers had guarded the assessment of taxes by insisting 
that representation and taxation should go together. This was 
inherited from the mother country — England. It was one of the 
principles upon which the Revolution had been fought. Our 
fathers also provided in the old Constitution that all appropriation 
bills should originate in the Representative branch of Congress; 
but our new Constitution went a step further, and guarded not 
only the pockets of the people, but also the public money, after it 
was taken from their pockets. 

He alluded to the difficulties and embarrassments which seemed 
to surround the question of a peaceful solution of the controversy 
with the old. Government. How can it be done? is perplexing 
many minds. The President seems to think that he can not recog- 
nize our independence, nor can he, with and by the advice of the 
Senate, do so. The Constitution makes no such provision. A 
general convention of all the States has been suggested by some. 
Without proposing to solve the difficulty, he barely made the fol- 
lowing suggestions : 

That as the admission of States by Congress under the Consti- 
tution was an act of legislation, and in the nature of a contract or 
compact between the States admitted and the others admitting, 
why should not this contract or compact be regarded as of like 
character with all other civil contracts — liable to be rescinded by 
mutual agreement of both parties ? The seceding States have 
rescinded it on their part. Why can not the whole question be 
settled, if the North desire peace, simply by the Congress, in both 
branches, with the concurrence of the President, giving their con- 
sent to the separation, and a recognition of our independence? 
This he merely offered as a suggestion, as one of the ways in which 
it might be done with much less violence to constructions of the 
Constitution than many other acts of that Government. [Ap- 
plause.] The difficulty has to be solved in some way or other — 
this may be regarded as a fixed fact. 

Several other points were alluded to by Mr. S., particularly as to ' 



78 AFRICAN SLAVERY. 



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the policy of tlie new Government toward foreign nations and our 
commercial relations with them. Free trade, as far as practicable, 
would be the policy of this Government. No higher duties would 
be imposed on foreign importation than would be necessary to 
support the Government upon the strictest economy. 

In olden times the olive branch was considered the emblem of 
peace. "We will send to the nations of the earth another and far 
more potential emblem of the same — the Cotton Plant. Tho 
present duties were levied with a view of meeting the present 
necessities and exigencies, in preparation for war, if need be ; but 
if we had peace — and he hoped we might — and trade should 
resume its proper course, a duty of ten per cent, upon foreign 
importations, it was thought, might be sufficient to meet the 
expenditures of the Government. If some articles should be left 
on the free list, as they now are, such as breadstuffs, etc., then, of 
course, duties upon others would have to be higher — but in no 
event to an extent to embarrass trade and commerce. He con- 
cluded in an earnest appeal for union and harmony, on the part of 
all the people, in support of the common cause, in which we are 
all enlisted, and upon the issues of which such great consequences 
depend. 

If, said he, we are true to ourselves, true to our cause, true to 
our destiny, true to our high mission, in presenting to the world 
the highest type of civilization ever exhibited by man, there will 
be found in our lexicon no such word as Fail. 

Mr. Stephens took his seat amid a burst of enthusiasm and ap- 
plause such as the Atheneum has never displayed within its walla 
within " the recollection of the oldest inhabitant." 



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